The Tails of Perseus Jackson
by Abbysmilesalot576
Summary: It's everyone favorite character, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon! Now there's a spin on things, Percy is a merman now (Deal with it)! What would his story be like if he was close to his father, never saw Annabeth in his life and was told kind of like the Little Mermaid? Well, here's my idea of how this cute fanfiction would go...
1. Chapter 1

**Before you start reading... please note that this is a crossover between the PJO series and the Little Mermaid with my little spin on things. Hope you like it! :) Please comment!**

* * *

Chapter 1

_ The Prince _

A seahorse scampered into the open area, snuffling a bit before beginning what he had to say in front of the King "I announce our beloved Prince Perseus, son of Poseidon, is finally home!"

Percy gave an annoyed sigh before entering the throne room. He just really arrived back home, barely having time to take a load off and forced to appear in front of his father. His fins were dreading every inch he swam, for they had to swim miles to get back home. Also, the shining gold armor was digging into his bare chest but he put on a brave face. He smiled and swam into the throne room, ignoring the chariot that he was _supposed _to enter with.

"Percy!" his father, King Poseidon himself, cheerily smiled at him "How is the colony in the Pacific doing? Did you get rid of their shark problem?"

"Yes." Percy nodded obediently. He looked carefully at his father's trident; it glowed blue and gold, truly powerful. His father would probably not have to swim as far as Percy did to get rid of some lousy sharks in the Pacific. Heck, Percy doubted his father did not even have to get up to take of the problem; the trident can do the work. Percy did not get why he was forced to travel to faraway lands, representing his father all the time when his father could get rid of the problem in a snap.

"Did the sword I gave you come in handy?" Poseidon looked absolutely thrilled to hear all about Percy's quest or was it because Percy was finally home after months of being away?

"Riptide sure did come in handy when slaying the sharks. I am sad that I killed them but they terrorized dozens of merpeople—" Percy gripped the hilt of his sword that was slang over his waist. Percy received Riptide a year ago, for sixteenth birthday, with his father's blessing and already it slain many creatures. Riptide was stained with their blood now.

"Yes, it is truly upsetting when some creatures turn against us…" Poseidon paused, agreeing in every way of what his son said "But we must do it for the better of the sea. Evil is reserved for those _humans_ up above but down here, we can find peace."

"Father, why do you send me on these quests? I understand that—"

Poseidon held up a hand, still smiling sweetly "Son, you must prove yourself. You are my eldest so the luggage of the throne befalls upon you. One day, my trident will be in your hands and you will be ruling all of the sea but first, you must prove your strength with your sword. Your sword is no ordinary sword either; it belonged to a great hero."

"Who?" Percy was deeply interested who this sword belonged to. If it did belong to a great hero than why did his father trust him so much with it?

Poseidon chuckled from his son's curiosity "He was a human actually. He accomplished many great tasks with the sword at his hand and with it, he became a god. He was arrogant and selfish like most humans who tread on the land, but he had tremendous strength. To be a king you must be like him—"

"Minus being a jerk part—" Percy commented.

His father agreed "Obviously."

They both were silent for a while and Percy's stomach felt like he ate too much of rotten seaweed. He realized how much he missed being here. For months he felt homesick and now he was back in friendly waters. The very waters he grew up in. He started to noticed every familiar detail, how his father's throne was on a seashell-like platform, how his throne was made completely of stone (Percy wondered how his father is able to sit in it all day look and not get your scaly buttock from not getting sore), how the beautiful silk banners of a trident hung where the three exits to the circler dome, and what Percy most loved of the throne room was the water-colored painting of Poseidon and his mom. Percy never met his mother before. She apparently died at childbirth but Percy still had siblings from more previous marriages. Her name was Sally, but that's all his father would tell him.

"Well, I'm sure you want to retire." Poseidon drew the conversation to a close. He slowly rose from his throne. Percy's father was not very old. He looked mid-thirties but the gray streaks in his black hair from long hours of politics made him look much older. His sea green eyes sparkled with his kindly smile as he looked at his son. Poseidon's skin was tanned from the fragments of sunlight that seeped through the water and from hard work years before Percy was born.

"Thank you," Percy said with a too much of a relieved tone. He was tired though.

"I will see you tonight." Poseidon grabbed his trident.

Percy's eyes widened "Tonight? What do you mean?"

Poseidon put a hand on his shoulder "The whole kingdom is throwing you a banquet. It is for your accomplishments of course."

"I don't want a banquet." Percy protested "I just want my bed."

Poseidon took his hand off his shoulder "You have to get used to it, Percy. When you are king, you cannot disappoint your people."

Percy managed not to curl his fists. He was exhausted and sick of ever going attention. He just wanted to curl up in his bed, go to sleep and then meet his best friend, Grover and explore the outskirts of the kingdom where he could get away from attention. Percy just sighed. It would not be wise to get his father in a bad mood when he was so happy at the moment. He started to swim away to his chamber in the left side of the palace.

"Maybe you'll meet a mermaid at the banquet!" he heard his father yell at him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_ Escape_

Percy was soon bombarded with people working in the palace. They did not just want a simple greeting from him but his adventure in specific detail or they wanted his preference on how the flowers should be set up for the banquet or they needed his help getting a couple of dolphins to do tricks properly in the show at the banquet. Soon enough Percy was attracting a crowd and instead of being strangled by requests he made a random point outside saying _"Look, that mermaid had a dolphin baby!" _Sure, it was mean to accuse someone of doing that because it was not possible but everyone surrounding him looked away from him for a few seconds. Percy used his speed skills on his tail he adapted a few months ago while chasing down sharks and bulleted off to his room.

He was so glad to take of his armor that pierced his chest so much it made red marks on his chest. He was going to take off his sword but that sword belonged to a great hero his father said, and he received his blessing to use such a weapon. Percy just laid gently on his woven kelp bed, he literally swam more than probably one hundred miles just to get here so his tail went limp with exhaustion and he fell asleep instantly. His eyes were sore and remained permanently shut.

"Percy!" someone shook him awake. It was literally only minutes afterwards when he could return to the comfort of his bed and now, it was taken away from him.

It was Grover, his best friend.

"Where have you been?! I've been worried sick! Slaying sharks, are ya? Blah-hah-hah! You could've been killed!" he complained "You think working with Hudson _is fun?_" Hudson was a merman that served under Percy's father, he is very loyal to Poseidon and his father taught Percy what his job was, which was mostly bossing other people around so the King did not have to worry about it. Hudson was a cranky old man who seemed to dislike everyone, even Percy but he _loved _Poseidon. Percy could not wait until he was king to order Hudson to go to silly singing shows that he had to do when he was little. Thanks to Hudson, he knew how to sing and that was humiliating on its own.

Percy swam out of his bed "Oh, my father sent me on that quest, like I could say no. Stop being a shellfish, Grover. People needed my help."

Grover blinked with big white eyes. Yes, his best friend was a goldfish that used to be someone's pet on the surface until Grover played dead one day and the family released him out to sea. Percy found Grover terrified of everything and took him in.

"I was not being shellfish!" Grover exclaimed, his tiny fins crossing as if he was crossing his arms "But why couldn't I go? It was lonely without you!"

"Your fins could probably not swim that far, Grover. I was also swimming for my life most of the time anyways, you wouldn't like that."

"But you brought Blackjack with you!" Grover protested. Blackjack was Percy's hippocampus and the two had an inseparable bond between each other. Blackjack was given to him when he was only six years old and the hippocampus was just born, so they mostly grew up together. Grover said Blackjack was like these beings called horses on the surface world, Percy would like to see one of those creatures but going to the surface was not an option. His father always said Grover was lucky to survive on land for so long.

"That's because he's fast and can outrun those sharks but you should see him now, he's exhausted and I had to swim all the way back here on my own."

"Yeah I saw him in the stables passed out." Grover giggled.

Percy collapsed on his bed, yearning to sleep but he hasn't seen Grover in months. It was nice seeing a familiar face "So, what do you want to do?"

Grover happily smiled "Let's go to our hiding place!"

* * *

Swimming even greater distances, _fun_. It strained Percy's tail even more but he endured worse. On his quest, a boulder fell on his fin and it crippled him for weeks but he still had to face off against those sharks that were extremely dangerous and hostile. Percy swam with Grover through the bustling city outside of the palace into the outskirts. No guard commented where Percy was going for he was a higher rank than them in the army. Percy was made a First Lieutenant by performing dangerous deeds for his father, without his father, Percy wouldn't have a lot of things.

"It's up ahead, right?" Percy swam next to Grover. It was relaxing for swimming where he wanted to go not where he was told to. Under the sea, streams of sunlight poured down from the surface world. He was not allowed to raise his head above water though. His father said sternly that the air was poisonous to his kind and if a human saw him, he would be killed.

"You know, the city on the surface where I came from was a place called Athens." Grover said dreamily "I think the cave is nearest to it." The cave, Grover's and Percy's hiding spot. When he was younger, Percy hid there all the time with Blackjack actually because Hudson was hunting for him for something. Thanks to Hudson, Percy would have never found this cave to escape from everything. In the cave he could escape the burdens of being a prince. Percy showed Grover the cave so they could talk about forbidden things like what the surface world was like and Percy's mother, he was never allowed to bring up his own mother to his father, _ever_.

The two friends came across the cave with a small opening. A huge boulder blocked the entrance to make sure no one could see its secrets. When Percy was littler he could squeeze right through the crack in the boulder but since he's fully grown, Percy had to physically move it. He managed to slide through the opening he made and rolled the boulder back into place once inside. Percy guessed the rock formation wanted to be a volcano since the small hole up top proved to be an entrance but it was not necessarily visible from the outside. The underwater cave's walls were bumpy as if the whole thing was melting and some rock that made the wall stuck out, proving to be some shelves. Percy stored many things he found valuable over the years, and he even wrote his name on the walls with a rusty knife he found in a sunken ship.

"Did you hear about my banquet?" Percy took a seat in the corner of the cave where he put a portrait that looked like his mother that he found.

Grover nodded, whizzing excitedly around the cave "The whole kingdom's talking about it. King Poseidon organized the banquet where every sea creature could come and it's rumored he invited the most beautiful mermaids across the sea."

Percy rolled his eyes "So _that's _what the banquet about…" He grabbed a lone rock from the cavern floor.

"Percy, don't act like you're not excited! King Poseidon is throwing _you_ a banquet in your honor and it's not even your birthday!"

"I just want it to be quiet for a few days. I've been all over the sea and back, I don't need a celebration, I just want it to be quiet." Percy pulled Riptide from his side and started at his reflection. He had little dark outlines under his eyes, his sea-green eyes had no sparkle in them today and his black hair floated underwater in a complete mess. He was tired of running around everywhere because he was the prince. He was tired of getting all the attention because he was the _prince_.

"On the plus side, you get to have any mermaid you want." Grover said, trying to cheer up his friend.

Percy started sharpening his sword with the rock he picked up. He was somehow annoyed with the fact he could choose any mermaid to be with him for life. It made his fins curl on his blue tail just thinking about it. "Tell me about the surface, Grover." It was not a request, it was an order. Percy really didn't want to talk about stupid mermaids at his choosing.

"Oh…" Grover sighed "I told you everything I know Percy. You don't get to know about Athens while in a bowl in some house."

"Whose house were you in?" Percy asked "Tell me about that."

Grover swam slowly to Percy "Did I say house? It was actually a castle."

"Castle? So royalty owned you?"

Grover nodded "I was some gift to a little girl with blond hair but she neglected me. It was usually the servants that came in to take care of her room that took care of me. I really hated it there. The girl paid me no attention to me no matter how many flips I did. She just had her nose in books."

"Sounds like that girl didn't care about anything but herself." Percy mumbled.

"It was fascinating though, Percy. There are things in the surface world I've never seen down here, they know how to live."

Percy nodded in agreed "In the cave, I have a few things from the surface world I've collected over the years. I have no idea what kind of inventions they are."

Suddenly the cave got darker. Grover gave a yelp from the sudden darkness but Percy only analyzed the cave. Something huge was casting a shadow over the small hole over the top of the cavern.

"W-what's t-that?" Grover trembled, noticing the gigantic shadow.

"Let's check it out." Percy grabbed one of Grover's fins and dragged him along, squeezing through the small hole at the top. This might be an excuse for him to see the surface.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

_Swimming with the Fishes_

Percy did not know why he wanted to break through the sea and see the surface for the first time. He did not know why he was excited to disobey rules given to him by his own father but Percy's heart skipped a little when he broke through the surface. No fight could beat breaking the surface for the first time, it was a triumph all its own.

"I'm coming…" Grover wheezed behind him. He probably had more difficulty fighting the surface than Percy because he could not breathe in this air but Percy felt terrific. He never saw the sun before, it was like a shining beacon of hope that you really couldn't stare too long at. The warmth of the atmosphere was something Percy never experienced before, underwater was always cool or damp, there was never warmth. Before him was a docked ship in the middle of the ocean. Percy had seen sunken ships before taken down by his father's wrath but never one in its prime.

"It's the ship casting the shadow." Percy said even if it was obvious. He was overwhelmed with mystery of the surface world and it thrilled him. There must've been hundreds of humans on that ship walking around, he wondered why they were here but Percy really couldn't ask that, he couldn't just swim up to them and say hi.

"We can't get close to it." Grover stated as if reading Percy's mind.

"I know but I was just curious…" Percy admitted but he was disappointed, he could not get closer to the ship than this. It was dangerous enough to be above the sea but approaching a man-made object was definite suicide. "How 'bout we hang around those rocks?" Percy pointed out a cluster of boulders that were probably pillars of rocks underwater. They provided the perfect hiding spot to admire the luxuries of the surface world but stay hidden from humans. Grover followed Percy without question. He probably didn't want to get lost in such an unfamiliar place.

"It's nice," Percy climbed onto the lowest rock and now his tail was getting the warmth of the sun on it, his tail never been anything but wet.

"I haven't seen one of _you_ in so long!" a voice screeched.

Grover jumped and dived back into the water. Percy was about to follow him but whoever was yelling at them yanked his hair. Percy fell onto the dry rock with such force, he probably got a bruise. Whoever it was had strength. Percy looked at him opponent while still lying on the rock.

It was a seagull.

"Hey, how ya doing?" the seagull stared down at him. Percy could not get over the fact that this seagull managed to pull him down when he was so little. The seagull was wide-eyed, seemed insanely crazy, had leaning structure and was losing white feathers rapidly but he never seemed to run out of feathers.

"Nice day out." The seagull still stared down at Percy, orange beak to nose.

"Yep," Percy was getting cross-eyed from the unofficial staring contest.

The crazy bird stood up straight and waddled away. Percy sat up and analyzed the seagull intently, he was not a threat.

"So, you're a merman." The bird faced him "What's your name?"

The bird seemed to be interrogating him "I'm—"

"No wait! Don't tell me!" The seagull put his wings to his temples "I'll figure it out."

"But you just asked me—"

"Silence!" the bird commanded "I'm concentrating…" the crazy bird shut his eyes tightly.

Grover rose to the surface just then "Is it safe to come out?"

The bird shot open his eyes "Another one! Hey, wait, you're not a merman, you're a _goldfish_."

Grover glared "You got a problem with that?"

The seagull shook his head "No, no, no, no! But I expected this merman would bring along tougher companions to the surface world."

"So you do have a problem that I'm a goldfish?!" Grover glowered at him "Well, you ain't tough either. You're just a stupid seagull!"

"I'm the toughest one of my squadron, thank you very much, Mr. Goldfish!" The seagull pranced over to the two friends as if bragging it in and they should marvel at his toughness but the only thing Percy noticed was that there were no other birds flying around or even near them.

"Anyway," the seagull called for attention again "I was just figuring out this merman's name before you _rudely _interrupted me!"

Grover groaned "Isn't it obvious on who he is?!"

The crazy bird blinked and then noticed Percy's right wrist. On it was a black trident that was carved into his skin when he was born. Percy was glad he could not remember what kind of pain he endured to get this mark tattooed onto him because it probably hurt a lot. If Percy changed his name, put on a disguise, or ran away, he could be easily identified by the mark on his wrist. It was the mark of the eldest prince of the sea, the one who would inherit the crown.

"Oh, gods…" the seagull's eyes widened and then he stumbled back and stood at attention, right wing in salute "Prince Perseus! First Lieutenant of the Undersea Calvary, I am honored!"

"Um, at ease…" Percy smiled "And you can call me Percy and my friend here is Grover. Now, could you please tell me your name?"

"I'm Scuttles, your highness!"

"Scuttles?" Grover held in a laugh.

Percy put on a serious face "Why are you out here, Scuttles?"

"The ship…" Scuttles pointed to the ship that was harboring over the cave. "The humans are fishing and I can't eat anything unless they stop. One boy whacked me with a dinglehopper for just trying to get my lunch. I managed to poop on him before I landed here. Greedy humans couldn't just spare _one _fish for a hungry seagull."

_"They're fishing?!"_ Grover gulped and started to panic. "Okay, okay, I'm still here but oh, I still have my whole life ahead of me… first a fish bowl and now this… I'll be part of someone's dinner before I can go back to the sea…" Grover mumbled aimlessly.

"Don't worry goldfish." Scuttles sighed "No one is going to eat a guppy like you. Heck, I'm hungry and I'm not going to eat you. You're too _unsatisfying_."

That is one perk having his best friend as a goldfish, no predators wanted to eat him. Percy remembered something that his father told him about humans fishing. He told him that they declined food for other creatures that needed the fish more desperately. His father told him that humans had other animals on the surface world they could eat but they are disrupting the balance of the sea to spoil themselves even more. His father hated sailors and fishermen alike.

"Scuttles, I'm going to get you some fish." Percy smiled determinedly.

* * *

"This is stupid, idiotic, insane, foolish, and crazy!" Grover protested, following Percy under the sea. "You'll get yourself killed!"

"No, it's not like I'm confronting them." He countered. "If I did that, then I would get myself killed." Percy drew Riptide and gripped its hilt.

Grover was about to say something but they came upon it. It was some kind of net that was made out of something very strong, not like kelp. Percy tried to slash it but dozens of fish yelped in panic. Thousands of varying fish were trapped in there, swished together and swimming as if that could free them.

_Help, Prince Perseus! _They all screamed at Percy, begging to be saved.

"I'll h-help!" Percy gave the fish confirmation that they would somehow survive. The question is, how? Percy was going to ask Grover but he fainted, and was upside down. He had to think. This material was not going to cut easily and it would take him a long time just to try and do that. That seemed like the only option though. Percy put his hand firmly around the strange material and one on the top of the blade of Riptide and started cutting. He used his long sword like a knife which not only pierced the material but his hand as well. He managed to tear through one part of the material and started doing it to others until a hole was made.

Fish came pouring out of the trap. Thousands of them dashed by Percy, saying thanks along the way but clearly getting away from the ship, Percy could not blame them for fleeing away from something that imprisoned you. The material tugged upward as if it was being hoisted. Percy wondered why he could feel the net pull upwards but when he looked down at his tail, he figured out why. His lower part of his tail, just before his fins, was caught in the trap.

"Grover!" Percy screamed. "Help me!"

Grover remained motionless, still probably passed out from seeing his brethren trapped.

Percy squirmed but that only made it tighter. He scrambled for Riptide and started cutting as fast as he could but his hand was bleeding rapidly from cutting it. Percy had to fight through it. If the humans discovered him, the humans would know merpeople exist and a huge violent war would start. The war would probably start with the humans trying to protect themselves from these unknown creatures and the merpeople fighting to repel invaders, an endless conflict.

Pain from his bleeding hand was wounding him. The blade was piercing him more and more into his skin and eventually cutting half of his hand off. Percy really didn't want to lose half his hand but he had to make a sacrifice to survive. The humans were almost hoisting the net above water.

Unexpectedly, a black figure dived into the water and bulleted through the trap, whoever it was Percy was thankful he was free for his fin was getting risen from the water and the rest of him. Percy put back Riptide. The black figure was above the water now and Percy could see one human with black hair throw a shiny object at it but clearly missed. Percy grabbed Grover by the dorsal fin and he swam off to the group of rocks above the water.

"Grover, speak to me!" Percy put his friend on some rock waiting for a reaction.

"He's okay," said a too familiar voice next to him.

Percy slowly turned to face the voice and he smiled nervously, noticing it was probably the worst person he could ever run into while here.

His Dad.

"Don't smile innocently at me,_ Perseus!_" his father snapped. Poseidon was in his usual get up but he carried his trident with him. It wavered with power and Percy hoped his father wouldn't pulverize him with it. "You could've been killed saving those fish! You might have been discovered if your friend didn't come to help you!"

"Wait, you didn't save me?" Percy was confused.

Poseidon sighed "I was about to when your friend decided to come and help you but that beside the point! I told _you_ not to travel to the surface world!"

_"Dad…" _Percy tried to think of a good explanation but what was the point? His father oversees all.

"Although I do respect that you saved those fish from being slaughtered, you are _grounded!" _Poseidon strictly said "If you weren't my son, you would be killed for disobeying my law but I think I have more of a punishment for you."

Percy gulped down a big chunk of spit. What would his father make him do? Anything could be better than facing against those sharks in the Pacific.

"King Poseidon!" Scuttles perched himself in between the two. "Royalty is just barging down my door to see Scuttles today!"

Poseidon smiled kindly at the bird "Thank you for saving my son. You can have one of my fishes today as a reward. That fish will feed you for seven days."

Scuttles stood at attention and put his right wing at salute again "Thank you, sir! I am pleased with your generosity for it was hard to hold my breath that long to save your son!"

"My son and I will be leaving now." Poseidon said and dragged Percy down under by the ear.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_The Princess and the Discovery _

Percy didn't know which was more painful, listening to two _full_ hours of Hudson lecturing him on all the rules in the kingdom and his opinion of each one or _this_. Poseidon knew him too well. This was probably the worst punishment he was ever given. You see, Percy was allowed to still have a banquet in his honor since everything was already planned out and it was too late to cancel it on such short notice but now, his father made it torturous. Percy was forced to meet every mermaid at the banquet (and there were thousands of them!) and kiss their hand and talk to them. He noticed most of the mermaids there could not help but highlight his beauty and his nobility and it got boring fast. Usually every conversation went:

"Nice to meet you, are you enjoying the banquet?" he was forced to start the conversation.

"You're hot." The mermaid would say and scurry off and giggle with her friends probably about him. Luckily, Grover got over his fainting and tagged along with him for most of his misery.

"Hey cheer up, Percy!" Grover encouraged "It's not that bad. Every mermaid is complimenting you for your looks that cannot be that bad right?"

"Do they have anything else to say to me besides of how I look?" Percy sighed. He flopped to a chair at a table in the farthest corner of the circler dome that held the dining hall/ballroom. He handled as many giggling mermaids he could take for one day. Percy slammed his head down on the table and started to sleep, Grover didn't stop him. For just closing his eyes Percy realized he sapped all his strength today and that must be why he didn't want to deal with fussy mermaids.

* * *

Percy woke up in his room. The coldness of the water told him it was probably midnight. Riptide was still attached to his side like it was glued to him. He wondered if he slept through the whole thing or not.

"The banquet is still continuing," said a voice as if reading his mind.

"Wha—?"

His younger brother, Triton was in his room. He had his usual disgust look for Percy. Triton was different than most merfolk. He had green skin and two tails. Triton did have good looks, long glossy black hair and stunning blue eyes but he was always considered a freak next to Percy, the future king.

"Father insisted that I drag you back to your room. He said you needed the rest or something like that. It makes no sense to me why a banquet for you should not have you there but I don't make the rules around here." He shrugged.

"Where's Grover?" Percy asked, totally ignoring the hatred in Triton's voice.

Triton rolled his eyes "I don't know why you insist to hang around such a sardine of a fish."

"Where's Grover?" Percy asked again.

"I don't know where he is." Triton left the room and mumbled curses probably about Percy. Despite how many times Percy tried to get his younger brother to like him, it never worked. Triton despised him even when they were little. Grover said that he wanted to be the one to inherit the crown, not Percy, and Triton spent a lot of times in the outskirts of the kingdom trying to convince sea creatures that he was the rightful heir to the throne but Grover said almost every sea creature loved Percy and wanted him to be king. Triton was too full of anger and jealously to become king but Percy wasn't that much of a leader either.

Instead of moping around thinking about how much anger Triton had for him, Percy swam out his open window. He needed to find Grover, he hadn't seen his buddy in months and Percy just wanted to spend time with him. He peeked into the dining hall but he didn't see a goldfish partying. Maybe Grover didn't find the banquet fun without his best friend there so Percy figured he could only be in one place that he did kind of feel safe, their hiding spot.

* * *

"Grover!" Percy yelled happily when he entered the cave. His friend was staring up at the small hole. The shadow over the cave was still there. Percy figured the ship was going to be docked over their cave for a while until they get enough fishes but something seemed wrong. The sea was _too _quiet. Usually Percy could hear fishes swimming around or the plants ruffling against the water but everything was quiet. The water also felt warmer and underwater, it is never warm.

"Percy…" Grover swam quickly to him, holding onto his neck. He was trembling.

"What is it?" Percy was confused.

Grover gripped the side of Percy's neck with his slippery fins "There's a storm. A bad one,"

Percy looked at the small hole. The ship above still provided a shadow but there was something orange glowing against the surface of the sea. Percy had no idea what the orange glow was but it really did not look good. He had to investigate.

Percy swam through the small hole at the top of the cave despite Grover's protests. He broke through the sea again and once he did that, Percy regretted he did. He hadn't disobeyed his father once but _twice _on the same day. He had no time to sink back in the comforts of the water because wind whipped him violently and it took all his concentration just to stay in one place. Grover immediately dove back into the water and watched in horror at his friend's position. Percy watched in horror as the ship was producing the orange glow but it seemed to cause horror to the humans on board too. The wind violently tore through the sky in sync with loud clashes of light. Percy never witnessed one until today. He was in a storm.

Percy watched the humans jump from the orange glowing ship and onto a smaller boat. There was about half a dozen smaller boats circling the orange glowing ship. Percy was captivated by the orange stuff that came from the ship, he never seen this stuff before but what he saw of it, it was destructive. Even humans seemed scared of it because of its destructive power. Also, the storm was raging, taking no mercy in its path. Violent waves splattered the humans on the boats and it took Percy with it. He never been so scared of water before but this water was not gentle, it was angry. The wind assisted the waves to grow higher and higher. They seemed to try and drown the poor humans who wanted to flee. Percy was powerless to stop the waves. Usually he could control the current but this wasn't usual water he played with. He did not possess the great power his father, he could not control this merciless waves.

_"Annabeth!" _one human screamed from a boat that was rocked brutally from a fuming wave. Percy watched a human be tossed off a random boat and thrown fiercely into the water. Percy fought against the merciless sea and the wind and dove back into the sea. The sea was not like the surface for it was calm but the human that got thrown off the boat was sinking rapidly. Percy had sympathy for the human. He thought an innocent soul should not die from a storm so Percy raced after the mortal. Grover followed him and yelled at him for trying to save a human, a fish-killer.

The human was beautiful, Percy could not deny that. She had perfectly curled golden hair that floated against the water so effortlessly. The girl had on a stunning jade green silk dress and she clutched tightly to a bunch of pages like it was her lifeline. She opened her eyes just a tad to see Percy, and Percy marveled at her gray eyes but the light of life seemed to be fading from them. Percy grabbed her by the waist, the ever first time he ever touched a human, and adjust her so he could hoist her up by her arms. He made sure the girl could not see his tail so she had her back turned to him.

"Percy! Let her die! What if your father finds out you helped out a human?" Grover yelled nervously "He'll have both our necks!"

Percy ignored him. He couldn't let someone die like this even if it was a human. Humans seemed to be exactly scared as he was in the storm so they did have feelings. Humans seemed to just have the exact same struggle to survive as merpeople do and for that, Percy hoisted the human girl to the surface.

* * *

Percy found land where he could set the girl on. Hopefully she could find help on the land, the place where humans belonged. She did not seem to have consciousness but she rested her head on Percy's chest all the way there. She seemed to find comfort on him but Percy wasn't sure why, they didn't know each other at all. It took a long time to find land because Percy did not know where to go but he kept his head above the water so the human could breathe but if he could swim underwater, the journey could have gone faster.

Finally, Percy found shore and decided to rest the girl upon it. She was soaked to the bone and shivering but at least she was alive. The sun was rising and Percy assumed it was morning, he had to go home before his father finds about his whereabouts.

"Prince Perseus!" an annoying familiar voice squawked "You just love saving people don't you?"

Percy turned his head to find Scuttles perched on a rock "How are you here, Scuttles?" but really he didn't care. Percy knew birds could fly anywhere but Percy was in a silent fight with the human girl, she did not want to let him go.

"It seems the girl has a liking towards her savior." Scuttles mocked "A human and a merman, now there's a story!"

Percy managed to rip the girl's arms off from his sides and placed the human on the sand. Percy dragged himself onto the shore too for he was tired trying to find land to get rid of the girl. The sand and the sun was warm, it made him realize how exhausted he was.

"Perce, we should go!" Grover begged.

"In a minute…" Percy wheezed.

Scuttles flew next to the girl and opened her eyes forcibly, examining her "Hmm… she doesn't seem dead…" he put his feathery head to the girl's chest "Her breathing seems scarce though…"

"Well, she's breathing! Yay! Let's go home!" Grover pleaded.

Scuttles shot up "Oh no! You can't leave this fair maiden here in this condition! You should sing to her, Percy!" he commanded.

_"Sing?" _he hated that word. Merpeople were known for their alluring voices but it's not like Percy liked to sing. Also, he was forced to do all kinds of shows with his singing voice when was little and it was embarrassing. "Why should I do that?"

"Because!" Scuttles shouted his one word of explanation like it was obvious enough.

Instead of getting pecked to death by Scuttles, Percy started to hum. It was a lullaby he heard when he was a baby. He had no idea who sang it to him but it always soothed him. Scuttles was dancing and flapping his wings totally not in rhythm with Percy's lullaby. Grover stayed silent and sank deeper into the water.

Suddenly the girl opened her eyes slowly. She turned her head and smiled dreamily at Percy who was too busy humming to notice she was awake. Her vision was blurry and she couldn't really move but she could marvel in her savior's beautiful voice and looks.

"Annabeth!" a person yelled from higher land.

Percy stopped humming and dove back into the water with the girl yelling "W-wait!"

When he was hiding behind a good size rock, Percy peeked slightly to see if the girl was safe.

"Annabeth!" a boy with tan skin and curly black hair paced up to her "Where have you been, girl? First you were thrown of the lifeboat like a rag doll and now you just suddenly show up out of nowhere, do you have expert swimming skills or something?"

The girl he saved, Annabeth was helped up by him "A boy… he brought me here… he saved me…"

"Sure," the boy rolled his eyes "And I was saved by a whale just a minute ago."

"No, Leo, he was real… he was singing to me… he had the most beautiful voice... and his black hair…"

"Look, Annabeth, I think you got a little off the deep end—"

"Annabeth!" another voice yelled.

"She's over here Sally!" Leo yelled back.

A woman scurried over and Percy almost jumped out and hugged her. He had no doubt on whom it was. The woman was fairly older than the two. She had messy brown hair with gray streaks that mixed into it. Also, she wore an old dusty dress with a messy apron. She was a servant and that angered Percy. At least she was safe and alive though, that counted for something.

"Annabeth swallowed too much salt water so she might be telling you about this _boy _that saved her but she'll be alright in an hour or two." Leo put Annabeth's arm around the servant "Other than that, she's fine. Now if you excuse me, I have some swords to make." Leo walked away in the direction of a castle. Percy never noticed it before but there was a whole village behind the shore and to the left was a brightly painted castle. This palace looked different than the one under water. The castle sparkled so many colors like it was gem and could be easily spotted far away.

"Stupid bird!" Leo yelled in frustration as he saw Scuttles. Scuttles was making really rude gestures at Leo so Scuttles and Leo had previous conflicts with each other.

"Let's get you back to the castle, Princess Annabeth. You're soaking wet." The servant dragged Annabeth in Leo's direction.

Okay, apparently Percy saved a human who is a princess of this land and the servant named Sally was his _mother. _His head spun in confusion.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Two Witches, One Boy_

"You are extremely lucky, Percy!" Grover yelled furiously at him when he woke up. They were back inside Percy's room and no one has come for them since they got there. Poseidon wasn't breaking down the door to strangle Percy for disobeying his law. Everything was unnoticed by his father for he was still sleeping.

"Hey, I was just being nice and just helping out a—"

"A _human! _Not a fish! Not a mermaid! _A human! _This is totally different Percy. Don't get me started on what Triton will do if he finds out! Your reputation as the rightful heir to the throne will be tarnished!" Grover swam around his room franticly as if he was told the world was going to end in five minutes.

"Then don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret." Percy had more pressing matters to worry about than the fact he saved a princess. He saw his mother. For the first time, Percy knew she was alive and well and he knew her whereabouts.

"I don't think so, Percy." Someone opened the door to his room. Grover jumped and hid behind Percy for protection. Percy was not surprised this person knew.

The person was Rachel Dare.

Rachel was the only person that was human he father approved to even talk to. Well, Rachel wasn't exactly human. She was a witch who studied under Hecate, a powerful necromancer. Rachel and Percy have known each other for quite a few years now and her visits have become more and more recent. Rachel was human but she breathed under water using some kind of magic that Percy will probably never understand in his life. His father said Rachel was like a diplomat to Percy, the future king and since they were friends, Percy would never dream of attacking Hecate's society of magicians.

"So you saw me through you magic crystal ball or something?" Percy guessed on how she knew.

Rachel sighed, letting her messy red hair flow into her face "You did a good deed but what is the cost? I wonder." She quickly closed the door so no one could hear their conversation.

"Did you know my mother is a servant? Did you know she was alive?" pressed Percy.

Rachel shook her head "Nor did Hecate. I do not know how your mother managed to mask her presence from us, she is human after all."

"B-but… Poseidon forbade it that we have any contact with the surface world…" Grover spoke up, still kidding behind Percy.

"That's right but Poseidon met Percy's mother before there was a law about it."

"What do you mean, Rachel?" Percy was having conflicting feelings about his father right now. He punished Percy for just looking at the surface world but he fell in love with a human on the surface world. How was that fair?

"Please do not hate your father, Percy." Rachel said calmly as if she read his mind "It was Athena's fault that your father had to make a law where you cannot have contact with the human world."

"Athena?"

"The Queen of Athens…" Grover explained "You actually visited Athens when you dropped that human off."

Rachel brushed some dirt of from her multi-colored robe "Yes, and ironically you saved her daughter. You see, Athena was the princess when your father fell in love with your mother. Athena was friends with your mother and envied how she found true love so easily. She thought it was unwise to even love a person from another domain despite their feelings so she quickly got married to a random prince and made it a law. But the damage was already done, your mother was raising you under the sea, Poseidon made it possible by changing her into a mermaid with his trident, and once Athena got word that her friend was raising a merman, she was furious. Athena literally ordered your death but your mother agreed to come back to the surface and Athena can punish her, not you. She made your mother be in forever servitude, a slave more or less and forbade her to even see you again."

"You knew this and kept this away from me?" Percy's eyebrows furrowed.

Rachel shook her head "Your father kept the truth about your mother, not me. I only learned the truth by Hecate who sees more than I do."

Percy was furious. This stupid queen kept him from seeing his mother. For years, Percy thought she was dead and he watched in envy of mermaids taking care of their children, he wanted that more than anything. His father was part of the problem too. His father kept this secret about the whereabouts of his own mother away from him.

"There's nothing you can do, Percy…" Rachel sighed "Athena made it impossible that you can see your mother again. Even when she sleeps, she is heavily guarded and any sea creature even approaching her will be killed on sight."

"What if he wasn't a sea creature?" someone hissed from behind Grover. Grover squeaked and swam into Percy's mop of hair. Percy and Rachel were completely stunned. Everyone just knows about Percy's little fiasco don't they?

_"Circe!" _Rachel stared at the hissing voice that was behind Percy.

"The immortal sorceress…" Percy mumbled as he turned around to face her. Percy was surprised to see an electric eel instead of the legend herself. Circe studied under Hecate like Rachel is doing right now but Circe had more ideas of using more sinister magic than Hecate, her mother, allowed her to so she was banned from using magic but somehow, she obtained her magic back. Percy never understood the ways of magic, in fact he'll probably never will but he knew about Circe. Circe was a powerful sorceress who lured many desperate sea creatures to their doom. She offered deals they could not refuse and Poseidon warned Percy _never ever_ make a deal with a witch.

"Ah, you heard of me, Sea Prince." The electric eel buzzed excitedly. The electric eel seemed to be under a spell, almost controlled really. Its eyes were golden with magic that consumed the eel, it is controlled by Circe through magic.

"Good, that makes introductions much easier." The electric eel squirmed. No sound came out of its mouth but a woman's voice came out of it seemed to be talking. "I can assist you."

"No." Percy said firmly "Now release the electric eel out of your control and go. You are not welcome it Poseidon's domain."

Rachel gulped but stood firmly "Or we'll make you leave."

The woman's voice from the electric eel laughed viciously "You do not want to see your own mother? I doubt that. I can give you something Hecate will refuse to offer you. I can give you legs, Sea Prince. You will not be trapped here in this damp palace and forced to obey your father. You will be free. You can see your mother and no one will stop you."

"Tempting," Percy said sarcastically but really it was.

The electric eel grabbed his chin by its tail "You lie through your teeth. You obey with second thoughts. You are a great warrior but really, you're afraid—"

"Don't you say another word!" Rachel put her hand out like she was ready to cast a spell.

"You are not truly happy here for you are a cross-breed. You were born from a human and raised under the sea. You are part of two worlds so why not try the other for a while?" the electric eel released Percy's chin and staring at him was a vision. It was a picture of his mother holding a baby. She was young with brown hair, beautiful silk dress and an amazing smile on her face. The baby had black hair and a blue tail and was sleeping in her arms. She was singing that lullaby that always soothed him. Percy wanted to cry, he wanted his mother's embrace.

"Don't you love her? Don't you want to see her and tell her you're okay?" the electric eel with the woman's voice asked.

"I-I can't…" Percy gripped the hilt of Riptide. He wanted the vision to stop for it was right in front of him. The hum of his mother's lullaby was ringing in his ear like she was right next to him.

It was Rachel who sliced through the vision with only a single hand. His mother's voice was fading, not to be heard from again. Grover was not hiding in Percy's hair anymore but hugging him around the neck with total sympathy.

"Go away Circe!" Rachel yelled.

Circe totally ignored Rachel "Child, I know your sadness, but you can meet her on the surface world if you let me—"

"I told you no, witch!" Percy quickly ripped out Riptide and before the electric eel could react, he sliced through it. He warned her she was not welcome here.

Gold smoke rose from the eel that got sliced in half. The woman's voice was still there and she was laughing. "Did you do that because you want to kill me, Perseus? Or did you do it because it was the _noble _thing to do? You want to take my offer more than anything else. I'll be waiting…" The voice disappeared and now there was a sliced up eel on Percy's bedroom floor.

Rachel held out a hand "Poseidon would defiantly not approve, you did the right thing."

Percy was silent and just held Riptide.

"I'm not one to break the rules but…" Grover gulped "There's got to be a way for Percy to meet his mother, I mean it is his _mom._"

Rachel shrugged "I can talk to Hecate."

"No…" Percy finally croaked out "She would not approve either."

"You're not thinking about…"

Percy nodded "I am."

"No, no, Perce!" Grover begged "She'll kill you or worse. Have Rachel talk to Hecate. What Circe can do, Hecate can do it ten times better!"

Rachel agreed "Give me a day, Percy, please. I'll convince Hecate somehow to help you."

Percy sighed "Fine, you have one day or I'm going to Circe. I want to meet my mom."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_Trickery _

Percy really had no choice. He never wanted anything more than this in his life. As royalty he usually got anything he wanted but nothing he truly needed. Percy never got a mother no matter how many times he begged his father, he was forced to shut up about it. He never got a chance to choose whether or not he wanted to be king. He never really got a quiet life like he needed from all the fighting and quests Poseidon sends him on. These thoughts clouded Percy for the day, the day Rachel was supposed to report back. He needed to become human and just embrace his mother, just once but Percy was no idiot. He knew exactly who was clouding his mind with all these dreadful thoughts and it was Circe, the stupid witch.

"Are you okay, son?" Poseidon blinked, noting how strange and quiet his son was today.

Percy noticed he was swimming aimlessly around the throne room by accident where he should've been in his room. He soon stopped "Why do you ask?"

Poseidon laughed "You are acting like something is heavily on your mind. Could it be a certain mermaid you met at the banquet?"

"No, no! Defiantly not that!" Percy was disgusted just thinking about love, every mermaid seemed to not even know more than a two syllable sentence. He thought about Annabeth, Athena's daughter he saved. She seemed to know more than other mermaids he met.

"You have that look again!" Poseidon was now making fun of him now.

Percy gulped "Uh, I think mermaids have cooties!" he announced like was the best explanation he could come up with. Nice going, Perce.

His father seemed to be enjoying his son's fail "Perseus Jackson…" he ticked "I would want to meet this special someone that is making you so jumpy. Surely, their cooties aren't that bad to get if you are obviously thinking all about her."

Percy came up with the weirdest thought. _Annabeth didn't have cooties did she? _Percy viciously shook the thought out of his head "I-I was thinking about… being prince and all, you know… that… thing…" He deserved a facepalm for that lame fail once again.

"It is nothing to be ashamed of, Percy." Poseidon looked like he was holding in a laugh.

"Oh no, are we going have another awkward father-son talk, again?" Percy groaned "Let me find Grover to fill in for me…" he started to swim away to his room that he thought he was in the first place.

"Come here, boy!" Poseidon commanded and Percy stopped, the water around him froze. He was dragged back by the current of water to his father "I knew this day would come."

Percy was completely motionless in the water "Dad, I can do this without your help."

"You have traveled to the Pacific and back, slain sharks, have obtained fabulous sword abilities, but nothing can prepare you for love." Poseidon laughed as if reminding himself of a fond memory.

Percy _really_ didn't want to hear this "Dad, I'm fine. Let me figure it out—"

"Nonsense!" Poseidon roared and Percy's mouth literally closed "It is times like these you need a father in your life, to guide you in this impossible quest for love."

How could Percy possibly find a way to get out of this? He desperately needed one.

"Now…" Poseidon cleared his throat and Percy wished he could cover his ears for the unwanted lecture to come. He in fact wasn't in love but thinking about how to meet his mother. How could he tell that to his father? _Hey Pops, I stabbed you in the back by saving a human from drowning but it's okay because I know you fell in love with a human, a bigger no-no. So let me become human so I can meet my Mommy or I'll blackmail you into doing it!_

"As a young merman you might feel awkward around some mermaids but this is totally normal. It is natural—" Percy shut his eyes tightly and imagined himself somewhere far off from the palace. He wasn't in the throne room talking to his father about something that always made Percy cringe. He was in his hiding place, totally isolated from anyone else.

"These feeling you have for this mermaid should be expressed. For instance, give her a bouquet of coral, or have Grover or some friend find out if she—"

"I'm not in love with anyone!" Percy snapped from the force that held him still.

"Ah, my boy, being in denial isn't going to help you—"

_"Percy!" _

Percy was never happier to hear his name, he now had an excuse to leave this stupid love talk with Dad "Well, Dad… Rachel needs me so see you later!" Percy swam off before his father could respond.

* * *

"I have great news!" Rachel was more vibrant today and smiling broadly. Percy found it weird because Rachel really hated Percy's plan for going to the surface world. Anyways, Percy followed her outside of the palace and into the sea. Rachel had no problem breathing underwater but Percy couldn't help but worry because she kicked ever so hard to keep up with the current.

Percy stayed silent until they were way clear of the palace "So, Hecate agreed to help me?"

Rachel looked back at him and pulled a mischievous smile "Oh, you'll see…"

"Let me get Grover—"

"No!" Rachel screamed.

"What? Why not?"

Rachel continued swimming, not even looking at him anymore "Hecate only wants you."

Percy was confused. Having Grover by his side shouldn't be a problem for Hecate, even if Grover did protest a lot against this insane idea, Percy can always shut his mouth by using some of his Poseidon powers that were passed down to him.

This wasn't Rachel.

This Rachel was too excited and it's not like Rachel isn't happy at times but she protested against Percy's wild idea to see his mother again. This Rachel would always be glad to see friends, even if it was Grover. He knew Rachel too well for he grew up with the sorceress. "Rachel" was not Rachel. Percy gripped his sword.

_Rachel _seemed to notice Percy's suspicion and she stopped swimming. _Rachel's _beautiful mess of curly red hair swayed violently in the water and her dirty dark robes tangled in her bare feet.

"Percy, what is it?" _Rachel_ looked at him with dazzling dark green eyes.

"You," Percy was surprised with his strictness in his voice. What if this was Rachel? What if his accusations were false? What if that was his friend? What if Rachel was just going through a crazy mood swing that she miserably had to explain to an innocent Percy years back?

_Rachel _or Rachel smiled slyly "I have to give you credit Sea Prince," she spoke with another voice, the same voice that came from the electric eel "You are smarter than you appear."

"Well, that's offensive," Percy said, glaring at _Rachel _"So what did you do to Rachel, Circe?"

Rachel's eyes turned gold, there was no more reason to hide that she was being possessed "So many questions… but let me tell you one thing, Hecate will never assist you."

"And how do you know that?" Percy asked.

"My boy," the voice of Circe tsked, "There will be no need in an interview. If you want to see Sally Jackson, your mother, be silent please."

"You cannot command me to do anything." Percy snarled.

"I asked nicely…" Circe laughed evilly and a whirlpool appeared out of nowhere, cutting them both off from the underwater world. Percy was choking, no, he was _drowning!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry, if I don't write in awhile sometimes. School sometimes gets the best of me. Also, thanks for the reviews and views. I'm really enjoying writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it! **

* * *

Chapter 7

_Deal_

"Prince Perseus, son of Poseidon, welcome to MY domain." The voice of Circe insane laugh ringed in his ears. Percy had a pounding headache for some reason and his throat was extremely dry in the misty watery air. His vision was skewed and hazy but he could see a red glob lying in front of him and that was probably Rachel. They were still underwater and Percy wondered if Rachel could breathe underwater while unconscious and the thought frightened him because she probably couldn't.

_"Percy!" _another voice yelped but all Percy could see of the other voice was an orange blob swimming around hysterically above him that could be the source of the voice but he wasn't sure.

"Silence!" Circe barked "Anyways, Perseus, I can give you what you desire but for a price."

Percy spat, ready for a fight and quick remarks. He _wanted_ to tell Circe off but no words can out of his mouth. His dryness of his throat gave him only little croaks, nothing more but he should've been able to speak something.

Circe laughed at his struggle "Having trouble Sea Prince? I told you to be quiet but you refused so I gave you a mute charm for a while, it'll help me convey my deal with no interruptions."

Percy focused hard to see Circe and his vision began to clear. The true Circe was standing right before him, gracing him with her presence. Percy noticed they actually weren't underwater but in a damp cavern that probably rested upon on the sea but he was in a bubble of water that served as his cage, never before water has restricted him. Rachel was lying on the hard rocks, enwrapped in gold chains that glowed with power and sorcery. The other voice that cried out was none other than Grover, cast in a bubble prison that he could easily swim around in but if Percy even moved a fin in his, it would constrain him even more.

They were alone. Circe was keeping them company. The whole cavern was decorated like it was a house in the surface world. Percy had seen pictures drawn in wet books showing how a cottage would look like in the human world. There were some cushioned seats placed in a circle for meetings, all of them laced in shimmering gold. There were furry rugs placed all over and paintings of women. Nothing much was in the cavern but want terrified Percy the most was the orange light that came from some sort of stone structure, the exact same light that came from the ship, only much smaller. It made a crackling sound every time it hit a piece of wood underneath it and Percy cringed every time that happened.

"Now, let's get to business, I want to seal this deal as quick as possible." Circe crossed her arms impatiently. Her piercing green eyes stared intently at Percy; her black hair was braided down her side laced with gold like the furniture and her silk robe shimmered like shadows were running through it. She was seriously glowing with power.

"You see, I can let you see your mother in the human world, Hecate does not possess such magic to transfer creatures into another but I do. I'm pretty flexible when it comes to deals such as this because it is mere child's play for me to perform the spell but everything good comes with a price. There is only one thing I want, Perseus, and you will help me for you have no one else to turn to. I have been banished from land in which Hecate, my mother, rules which is mostly everything but I tire of living day to day in this damp cavern near Poseidon's domain, I want to create my own island. I want a place of solitude bigger than this, nothing more.

Perhaps you can help me, Sea Prince. You want to see your mother and I want an island, the deal is that simple. Where your mother lives is a place called Athens, I hope you know that. You do? Good. Then you should be familiar with the queen, Athena. Athena and Poseidon are very well known enemies but in secret. Her people do not even know that merpeople exist, she made some witch erase their memories of their knowledge but your mother defiantly knows about her merman son and Athena's closest advisers do too. Athena stole an artifact, a conch, from Poseidon, it's the very first one that was made and molted by the sea. The conch has special powers, it was known to create the first sea creatures, merpeople, and especially islands by just blowing into it. I want you to steal the stolen item back." Circe smiled in satisfaction that she was done explaining. She snapped her fingers.

Percy's voice returned "That item's my father's, not yours."

"I know, I know." Circe put "I'll just be using it once and you can return it to your Daddy if you like. It can actually be an excuse why you were gone so long."

"What if I refuse?" Percy asked.

He regretted even asking the stupid question. Circe's green eyes flared at him and his water prison grew tighter, choking him once again. He noticed he wasn't the only one getting tortured, Rachel was screaming in her sleep and Grover was being chased by a glowing shark cast by magic.

"You die, simple as that," Circe was still torturing everyone.

"Okay… get it…" Percy choked.

Circe smiled once again and everything turned back to normal, well, back to being imprisoned with no extra dish of pain. Circe grabbed Rachel's magical chains and hoisted her up.

"Rachel will be my captive until you steal the conch." Circe said "That should increase your motivation."

"What does it look like? How can even get to it?" Percy wanted to get this quest over with. Rachel was in danger because of him. If only if he didn't save Annabeth, he wouldn't know his mom was still alive and possibly they wouldn't be in this scenario. Why was Circe so forceful anyways? Why not give Percy a fairer choice then life or death? He guessed Circe knew Percy would never assist her if she made things fair. He could hear his father's words of not making deals with witches pounding in his ears.

"That's not my problem Prince Perseus but I have you know, you have a seven day time limit. If you ask me that is plenty of time to retrieve the conch. If you don't get it in time, Rachel is my servant for life with only you to blame. So what will it be Sea Prince? Die a slow death drowning in water or fulfill my task and live on with your life after?"

"What about my mom?"

"You can probably spent one day to give her a half-hearted reunion. You are free to choose what to do on the surface world but remember the consequences of those actions."

"That's it? You turn me into a human, I get the conch, met my mom and get Rachel out of your clutches, nothing else?"

Circe laughed "What? Did you expect me to take your voice or something?"

Percy gulped "What? Why my voice? Why would I think you would take that?"

"Never mind that. Deal?"

"Do I really have a choice?"

Circe's smiled grew wider as she accepted his remark as an agreement "Just one more thing to seal the deal. Usually you have to sacrifice something to change something so I need your voice."

Percy's eyes widened but even a flinch made the water choke him more. Before he could get out of it, Circe started mumbling a spell. Percy felt a warm sensation in his throat that climbed like a spider from his throat to his mouth to the outside. His voice was right in front of him. His voice, a tiny ball of light, echoed his name as if it yearned to crawl back into its proper place.

"There," Circe grabbed his voice and stuffed it into a pot and sealed the lid. "I'll keep it safe for now. Perseus, it is only necessary that I do this because something must be given up from the thing being changed. Look at it on the bright side, I could've taken an arm, a kidney or a rib but losing limbs will only slow your progress in stealing the conch. Also, when you rescued Athena's daughter, you did sing to her so she has your voice memorized, trust me. If Athena gets word you saved her from drowning in a sea where no one else from her crew could save her, she will make the connection that you are a merman. Athena will kill you."

Percy couldn't respond but he absorbed the information quite well. If Annabeth hears her savior's voice and he did recall talking around her, it won't take long for Athena or Annabeth to figure it out who he really is.

"Now, for the real magic!" Circe murmured some more spell words. Another whirlpool whipped around Percy. His water prison was lifted and the transformation started. It was quite painful.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_Complications _

The sun blinded him. The sand got into uncomfortable places in his raggedy clothes. The water seemed so unfamiliar to him now. He hit his head and back plenty of times on the coastal rocks trying to stand. The surface world was not supplying a pleasant welcome for him. He decided to lay there, frustrated at himself. Percy didn't imagine he would possibly get into the surface world this way, he was mostly forced to come here. Circe forced him to give up his voice, transform into a human and now he has to steal a conch for the stupid witch. Life couldn't be better! Besides that, he thought of the unconscious Rachel, probably still tied up in magical chains at Circe's hands. It made him angry. This was not fair. To add on to his aggravation, he had this:

"Percy! What were you thinking? Now, we have to steal something that doesn't belong to us, well, it doesn't belong to Athena either, but never mind! Do you know what your Dad will do once he finds out you did this? You and I will be fish food for the sharks!"

Percy wanted to scream at Grover but at the moment he couldn't. Circe took it unfairly! Circe didn't even give him a heads-up before she took his voice. She should've at least put a warning label on the deal they promised.

At least, Percy was given clothes, compliments of Circe. They were dirty and torn but they covered him. Percy never wore a shirt or pants before but feeling them cling to his sweaty skin choked him. He remembered the screaming agony he felt as his fin was rip into two and changed into legs. He never wanted to do that ever again. His newly found legs felt sore from the transformation and that didn't help him standing at all. He gave up on the thought of even trying to stand, his legs were too unstable and he was given too many bruises and scrapes already from the rocks on the shore. He stared at his tattoo of a trident on his wrist. He wished to be back in the water, where he belonged. He knew he never belonged here, on the surface world, and everything seemed to reject him in a way here.

"What are you planning, Percy?" Grover asked him from the water near the shoreline "You can't just walk up and steal the conch from Athena. She probably has it heavily guarded."

_I know. _Percy wanted to say. He really needed to Grover to be quiet so he could think of what to do because he had no plan. He was in unfamiliar territory now, not the sea. He was not free anymore to do whatever he wanted.

"Prince Perseus, it's oh so nice to see you again, man!" a voice squawked. Percy didn't have to look around to see who it was, but at least he knew someone in the surface world. "You got a new look!"

"Scuttles get out of here! We have no time for you!" Grover snapped.

Scuttles landed next to Percy and crossed his wings "What are you going to do about it, _Goldfish?" _

Grover sank deeper into the water, squeaking a bit.

"So, hmm… there's something up with you…" Scuttles pondered, trying to find a difference in the looks of Percy. Percy wanted to scream at him because he was thinking heavily on what was different with him. It wasn't that hard.

"Oh! You added seaweed into your hair!" Scuttles concluded. Percy looked up at his head. There was defiantly seaweed lying on his hair from being tossed up to the surface because he couldn't breathe underwater anymore.

"He's human!" Grover finally shouted "He got two legs now, Scuttles, seriously! How long does it take you to figure things out?" Grover was obviously annoyed at the whole situation like Percy was and few things could tip the scale now.

"A human!" Scuttles laughed with joy "That's awesome! What made you do it? Was it that girl you saved earlier? She seemed to _like_ you."

"Percy can't talk." Grover explained "Circe made him—"

Scuttles winged him off "I don't need details!"

Before Grover could remark, now mostly playing Percy's voice in the argument, a black dog came bounding through the shore. Percy noticed the stone gateway separating land, the village, and sea was open all the way. Percy was well covered by the rocks to be noticed by people passing by the gateway but the dog knew he was there. The dog bounced excitedly onto Percy's chest, knocking him over, and having him experience the pain of the bruises on his back once again. The black shaggy dog licked and slobbered all over him, he needed a smile after dealing with Circe. Scuttles flew away and Grover dove under but Percy couldn't escape, where would he go?

"Mrs. O'Leary!" A voice yelled, getting closer.

Percy tried with all his might to get the dog off of him but he found its slobbery kisses somewhat endearing. He didn't even know the animal but it seemed to love him.

"Oh, I'm sorry mister!" the owner of the voice removed the dog from Percy's chest. "Mrs. O'Leary never listens to me."

Percy sat up, smiling a bit, and found himself face to face with the girl. He knew this girl well even though they never talked. He saved her life.

"I've… never seen… you here… before…" Annabeth breathed. Her stormy gray eyes staring directly into Percy, he felt like stone. She wasn't soaked or unconscious like the last time he saw her, she was dressed to be presentable as a princess. Her golden hair pulled back in a bun laced with a white ribbon and her face radiated from probably countless hours of prepping. She wasn't like the mermaids Percy met.

Percy was glad he couldn't speak for once because if he could, he would probably say something really stupid.

"You got seaweed in your hair." Annabeth pointed out after many lengthy seconds.

Percy nodded, he already knew that. He began to pick the seaweed out of his hair. At least he got something to do rather than stare at Annabeth like a creep. Percy didn't know why he just wanted to stare at her. He saw many beautiful mermaids and they never turned his eye.

"What's your name? Where did you come from?" Annabeth asked to get an answer out of him, this conversation seemed too one-sided.

Percy realized how important having a voice was. He never had to explain using only hand gestures before and he failed trying to explain using that. First, Percy motioned his arms like the sea but whatever came after that, Percy had no idea what he was trying to say. Words were so useful. He wished he had them back.

"You… were shipwrecked…?" Annabeth tried her best to infer what his silly hand motions met.

Percy nodded to Annabeth's interpretation. He couldn't have come up with a better cover story.

Annabeth sighed "That makes sense… storms been popping out of nowhere lately. The sailors think it's because Poseidon's unhappy but I know better than to believe stupid old fairytales."

Percy put his hands firmly on the sand and tried to stand, his legs wobbling insanely in the process. He needed to leave Annabeth. She must not find out who he truly is or he'll be dead, simple as that.

"Where do you—?" Annabeth stood up and before she could complete her question, Percy collapsed into her arms. She was surprisingly strong for a princess. "If you think you're going anywhere in your condition you aren't but nice try Seaweed Brain."

He barely knew this girl but already he got a silly nickname.

"Come on," Annabeth put his arm over her shoulder so he didn't have to worry about walking alone "Can you speak at all?"

Percy shook his head and touched his throat where his voice was forcibly extracted by Circe.

"Okay… well, either way I'm not leaving you stranded on the shoreline of my kingdom, it would not be a noble thing to do." She waited for shock from Percy to find out she was royalty but when she got none, she continued "My maids can clean you up, and if they are stressed don't worry. They all signed up to plan my wedding, you see…"

Percy was suddenly interested.

"I have to marry to become queen." She explained "So, my mother engaged me to a prince. His name is Nico di Angelo, creepiest guy I've ever met. Seriously, I would have rather married my blacksmith, Leo, then marry Prince Angelo."

* * *

"Cathie, have you felt his hair? It's silk!"

"Oh, look at his muscles!"

"Annabeth washed up a god!"

"Ha! Ha! Washed up—"

Percy had to deal with this. Apparently humans had to bathe themselves in water in a gigantic container with an assortment of weird bubbly stuff that gave off weird fumes. The worst part was that three middle-aged women were helping him with the thing called a bath. They stripped him of his clothes and threw them out the window, threw him into the bath and scrubbed him down, not missing anywhere.

"Uh, what outfit should I give him, Bessie?"

"He needs something that shows off his beauty."

Two of the women scurried to find Percy the perfect outfit. He hated being the center of attention, and perceived like he do anything for himself. He could have found shelter without Annabeth's assistance, he should be able to wash himself and he could handle finding his own outfit. The servants helping him reminded him of the giggling mermaids that fancied over him at the banquet, they were just much older and it was ten times the awkward.

The two women came back with an outfit "We found the perfect one!"

"He's not supposed to look that fancy, Essie!" the woman who was scrubbing his hair intently protested "Remember despite his looks, he's not a noble!"

"Don't spoil it, Cathie!"

Cathie sighed and dunked Percy's head underwater to rid his hair of the bubbly stuff. He was left under there for a long time with Cathie's strong and withered hands holding him down. While he was under, Cathie said a few things to her fellow servants. He noticed he could breathe underwater no problem which was odd because when he transformed, he couldn't.

Percy was yanked up by another hand "You're going to drown him!"

Cathie flicked off the bubbly stuff from her fingers "I'll pick out a suitable outfit for him, you two dry him thoroughly."

Percy decided to skip the details after that.

* * *

Legs were starting to get easier to walk with. The castle Annabeth lived in was huge and the windowed passageways extended for miles. He was escorted by Cathie, the one who picked his outfit in the end, to dinner. Cathie well knew Percy couldn't walk very well, she explained it was from being at sea and probably drifting for so long but Percy concluded it was because he never had them before, so they didn't work very well. Cathie let him walk alone, to get used to his sea legs, she said. In no time, he could walk straight without tripping over his feet or slipping on the marble floor.

"Don't mess up," she smirked when they arrived at a grand doorway. "Queen Athena is not known for her forgiveness," she whispered in his ear and pushed him through the doors.

Percy collapsed on the floor again and he could hear laughing in front of him. Percy managed to get up, brushed off his pants to see an awfully long dining table and at the end was Annabeth. She had a totally different outfit on, darker colors and hair down. Next to her and at the head of the table was Athena. Percy had no doubt it was Athena. She had on a gold crown decorated with jewels which is always the obvious sign she's the alpha dog. She looked so much like Annabeth but colder and more distant.

Percy put on the best smile he could at was instructed to sit not there, or there, or there, but right next to this weird guy who was tinkering with metal.

"Hola, mi amigo," the guy smiled, not taking his eye off his work.

"Leo…" Athena sighed "You should be in the servant's dining area, not here."

"I know but I didn't want to wait to see our ever so mysterious boy that just happened to wash up on shore today. He's already the talk of the town and hasn't been here for more than three hours, it took me _years _for people to notice Leo, the awesome—"

"That's enough." A man said strictly who was on the other side of Athena.

"Hades—" Athena cleared her throat "I can perfectly handle my own servants."

"Not well I see. This servant thinks he can just trounce up here and accept to be served like a king. You must show power, Athena. Once my son marries your daughter I can show you how I keep my society in order—"

"There are not my slaves, Hades!" Athena barked and both of them drew into a tense argument over politics.

Percy glanced over the table. Next to Hades was a black-haired pale, droopy boy who looked a few years younger than Annabeth, since Hades and him looked alike, the boy was probably his son. Nico di Angelo, Annabeth's groom-to-be. Also, next to Nico was a sickly old man who looked like he could faint any second, Percy knew nothing of him.

"Cheer up." Leo nudged him "They always get like this, arguing over government and stuff. Wonder why they want to make an alliance when all they do is yell at each other."

"It would be a huge benefit to Athens," Annabeth jumped in "King Hades has dug out many valuable jewels from his mines that could boost the economy of the kingdom."

"You want to get married?" Leo raised an eyebrow.

Annabeth went silent.

"What's your name?" Leo asked Percy "Can you write it out?"

Percy was given a pen by him and Percy tried to sketch out his name. He did it so many times in became the flow of the pen.

"Uh… well, I can't read it…" Leo examined the napkin which he wrote on.

Annabeth looked too "Your society must speak a different language then us but you seem to understand us."

Did sea creatures speck a different language then humans? Percy never saw the difference.

Suddenly the old man coughed to get attention. Hades and Athena stopped arguing to pay attention to him. Whoever this man was, was highly respected despite his sickly heath "Boy, why are you carrying a sword to dinner?"

Percy looked down to see Riptide strapped to his waist and hanging against his black pants. Percy shrugged at the answer. It just felt natural for him to carry his sword around everywhere. He's been needed so many times that involved his sword that he figured to just carry it around everywhere. Also, the servants that dressed him approved it so if it was threatening to carry a sword to dinner then the servants were lousy at catching things.

"Do you fight?" the old man asked.

Percy nodded.

He seemed impressed "Well…" he coughed "A warrior, especially one who seen battle has a hard time not being on guard, but let me assure you… we're friends, even Hades."

"Fredrick…" Athena seemed to forget Hades altogether "You should be in bed."

"I'm fine… honey…" Fredrick whooped a cough. Percy realized who the man was. He was the King of Athens but he seemed to not have that much authority like Athena. He was dying. Percy could see his light in his eyes were fading gradually. Annabeth's father was about to die and that was why Annabeth needed to marry a prince because a woman should never rule, that was the rule. Here was Percy wanting to steal from them but it wasn't like he had a choice. Rachel was in the hands of Circe and Percy would love to have his voice and life back. Still though, he felt guilty. One day soon he would have to stab their hospitality in their backs and steal the conch from the dying and vulnerable King.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_Blue_

The sun was setting and the dining hall, covered with windows, created a reddish color over the whole room. Percy's white shirt was orange now and Leo's mischievous smile seemed more devious than ever before.

"So…" Annabeth gulped after a long time of silence "You must be a knight, right? I've never seen a blade like yours before though…"

Her father coughed "It's made of Celestial Bronze, is it not?"

Percy was surprised to hear that humans knew of such a rare metal. The only metal in the whole world besides gold that won't rust under the sea is celestial bronze.

Athena laughed rudely "Celestial bronze is a legend. It's something the gods use. I doubt it is even real. It's a myth, nothing more."

Annabeth nodded "It must just be bronze."

"You believe what you want to." The old man said. Annabeth must have been brainwashed to not believe in legends or myths by her mother, Percy thought. Athena knew well about Poseidon, a legend and the merpeople, a myth but she made sure her daughter would not believe in such things. The only person who was wiser to believe in such lies was Athena's own husband.

Hades sighed in boredom "When is dinner going to be served?"

Suddenly, as if it took just a single question, servants came through the entrance of the dining hall with food. Servants passed out glasses of weird drinks of different colors, Percy decided just to stick with water. Some servants put trays of food Percy never seen before that smelled so juicy and tasty but no one else was trying to eat so he just copied what the humans did.

"What do we have today, Clarisse?" Leo asked a servant who put a covered silver tray in the middle of everybody.

Clarisse glared at him "The usual, I killed them this morning."

Athena sighed "When are we going to have something different?"

"The fishermen are too scared to get anything else ever since the incident." Clarisse said as if it was obvious.

"Right," Annabeth nodded "The ship I was on, fishermen tried to get tons of fish for the villagers but both nets, carrying hundreds of fish, got ripped. Fishermen suspect it's a horde of sharks."

"Or Poseidon doesn't want us fishing." The old Kind remarked.

_Nope, it was me. _Percy thought to himself.

"Anyways…!" Clarisse was getting impatient "I cooked a batch of…" she opened the cover, revealing what was on the tray. Percy almost puked.

"CRABS!" Clarisse yelled in the tip top of her lungs.

"What's wrong, man?" Leo looked at Percy "Clarisse's cooking is pretty good even if she looks like an axe murderer."

"Are you alright?" Annabeth rested her hand on Percy's shoulder, eyes full of concern.

Percy shook his head. He was starving but he would never eat something that lived in Poseidon's domain. All his life, he ate coral, seaweed or something plant like. He would never eat something that his father ruled over, it wasn't right. This was pure cannibalism to him.

The old man laughed "I bet you are sick of the sea, my shipwrecked friend. Why don't you bring something else for our queasy friend, Clarisse?"

Clarisse growled "We have nothing else." She began to stomp out of the dining hall with the rest of the servants following her but one servant stayed.

_Prince Perseus!_ A voice called.

Percy blinked, who called his name? No one at the table knew it.

_I'm still alive, Prince Perseus! I managed to survive the terror of being cooked by that killing chef. Poseidon must be looking after me._

There were screams of shock stirred Percy out of his sheltered position. He looked up at the pile of dead crabs, even if it disgusted him he looked at the top of the pile to see one of the crabs stirring.

"It's alive!" Leo shrieked.

Hades's son, Nico stirred but not saying anything, he grabbed a little metal tool that looked like a mini trident and raised it. Percy thought it was stupid because crabs had extremely hard shells so not something like that could break it.

The crab that was alive scrambled off his dead friends, landing onto the wood table. Athena was barking at the door for Clarisse so she could scold her. Nico was paying attention heavily on where the crab was going to, armed with his tiny metal trident. Hades was sighing impatiently. Annabeth was still holding Percy's shoulder, shell-shocked. The old man was shocked but held back a tiny smile. Leo's chair was tipped over and he was laughing insanely. The whole situation made Percy's head spin, so many different reactions to the loose crab.

_Prince Perseus! _The crab called out again. The crab scurried to Percy as if he had some plan to free him from this prison. The crab ran over delicious food, knocked over glasses and twisted up napkins to get to the prince.

Nico was eyeing the crab.

The crab held out his red claws, ready to embrace the comfort of Percy. Percy was getting ready for extreme pain from the crab's pinching but he was also wondering how he could get this creature back to sea. If he scooped up the crab right now and the crab wouldn't even fight him to be in Percy's hands, would be suspicious? It was too risky to try and just rescue it.

Nico raised his tiny metal trident.

The crab knew Nico was eyeing him so when he was a foot away from Percy, he jumped. Luckily Nico stabbed his mini trident into the table not the crab. Not so lucky, the crab did not land in the destination it was trying to land in. Percy's held out hands were blank where the crab was supposed to land in. Where was it?

It was in Annabeth's hair.

Percy tried not to smile for Annabeth was screaming _GET IT OFF ME! _Like a madman. Leo was turning blue from all the laughing he was producing. Athena wanted Annabeth to hold still so she could try to get the crab off of her daughter. Nico was too sad in his defeat to worry about his future bride.

_Prince Perseus! _The crab cried out again. Annabeth was smacking it wildly but the crab's foot was stuck to her hair. Percy could see it. One of its legs got tied up in one of Annabeth's luscious curls. Percy sighed and decided he couldn't let this crab suffer any more for it almost died by the hands of Nico.

Percy grabbed Annabeth's shoulder firmly and she stopped messing up her hair to look up at Percy. He took both hands and loosened the curl that was holding the crab from escaping which didn't take that long. Once it was free, the crab crawled into Percy's hands.

"Amazing," the old man awed "Chaos was going on for minutes and you soothed it seconds. Truly remarkable,"

Percy shook his head modestly. He wanted to toss the crab out the window because the ocean was right there but Percy did not know how they would react to that. There was a glass container of water in one corner of the room with artificially made coral and underwater scenery but it will do for now. He walked over to it, his boots clanking on the marble floor, and gently put the crab in the water and told it the best he could with body language he'll come back later.

He sat back down at the table.

"That was amazing," Annabeth agreed with her father. Her hair was a mess down and she was busily fixing it but still smiling at Percy.

The servant who was left smiled at Percy and she started straightening the dinner as best she could. Percy knew exactly who it was and it was his mother who stayed behind from all the other servants and hopefully, she knew exactly who Percy was.

"Let's eat." The Queen ordered and the rest of dinner went on in silence. Percy noticed that Nico was eyeing him and he wondered if the kid ever spoke. It wasn't just Nico though, it was Annabeth too and Percy just really wanted to disappear, he just put a crab in water and suddenly, he's a hero. It takes not much to impress humans but he could say that with his kind too.

After dinner when everyone parted ways to spend the last few hours of lingering daylight to themselves, Percy stayed in the dining hall. The servants quickly cleared the table and once all of them left he went over to the glass container of water where he stored the crab.

_Prince Perseus, you are truly kind. _The crab said as Percy scooped him up. The crab was patiently waiting for an answer from the prince but Percy couldn't say anything.

"I knew you would do that." A voice said behind him.

Percy almost let the crab fall back into the water and he spun on his heels to confront the owner of the voice.

But there was no one.

The room was empty with only him in it. Percy knew it wasn't the wind that talked to him, he knew someone was there but he didn't know anyone's voice distinctly in the castle yet to make assumptions, he decided to just ignore it for now. He navigated himself through corridors to find a way to the water. He didn't find this hard because he had to do the exact same thing at his own home which was a castle also.

* * *

Finally after an hour and the stars were starting to rise, he came to a back entrance of the castle that led to the shore. Percy crouched down and dumped the crab into the water, where it belonged.

_Thank you! _ The crab said and dove into the water.

Percy wondered where was Grover and Scuttles? When he was rescued by Annabeth they disappeared in fear that they would be discovered but Percy needed people he knew. He just ate dinner with a bunch of strangers. Even Annabeth was only but an acquaintance to him. He knew nothing about anyone there or what was Leo's relationship with Annabeth, he knew nothing about them at all. He felt he intruded onto their lives.

"Pssst!" someone whispered.

Percy looked around to see straight ahead of him was Grover. He smiled in excitement.

"Perce, we got to talk!" Grover said urgently.

His smile faded, Grover defiantly didn't bring good news.

"King Poseidon knows everything! He knows about your deal with Circe! He's angry."

Percy was shocked but he knew his father oversaw everything that happened under the sea.

"Fortunately he doesn't really know the details really. He doesn't know you rescued Annabeth, and he doesn't know you know about your mother because Circe cast a spell so he couldn't see everything or something like that but he knows Circe did kind of forced you to become a human to steal the conch! He said in a meeting with Hudson that if he intervened, you might be killed so you're on your own."

Percy knew well from the start he would be on his own.

"What are you doing out there?" a voice called from behind him. Percy whipped around to see Annabeth on her bedroom balcony "You'll catch a cold!"

Percy wanted to wave goodbye to Grover but he already sank back into the safety of the water. Percy stood up brushed off his pants and walked off the shore and back inside the castle. He wasn't sure why he sort of obeyed Annabeth's request to get back inside but he really didn't want to find out what would Annabeth do if he disobeyed.

When he got into his guest bedroom which Annabeth instructed him where it was he saw it was extraordinary. There was a bed made from comfortable silk, bookshelves of books, a lovely view of the sea, a dresser carved with specific details of angels on it and another room that looked like the one he had to bathe in earlier this day. He felt right at home. He stripped himself of his clothes and put himself to bed.

There was one thing he missed though in his bedroom. There was desert waiting for him on his dresser. It was his favorite when he was a baby. It was desert from the human world. A blue sugar cookie was specially made for him by someone in the castle.

_End of Day One_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_Defeat and Weaknesses_

"Rise and shine!" a voice stirred Percy awake. Percy blinked open his eyes to the blinding sun pouring through his window and the face of Leo. He was staring right at Percy like they were having a staring contest.

"Do you know how long you've been sleeping, man?" Leo rose and stretched.

Percy yawned, he could not tell time really. Underwater seems like the same time all the time, in the human world there were two different skies to tell the difference.

"Annabeth was getting worried but she's not allowed to enter a man's room so she figured I had _nothing _better to do than to wake you up."

Percy smiled, Annabeth was worried about him. Wait why would that make him smile?

"Anyways, Annabeth set up a list of names and she'll run them through with you at breakfast since you know, we don't know your name."

Percy nodded and Leo was more than glad to leave the room so he could do whatever he wanted to do. Percy got up and got dressed with great difficulty, he didn't know how humans functioned with clothes. Usually when he woke underwater, he didn't have to take a bath, do his hair or put on these choking clothes.

* * *

Percy arrived at the dining hall with only Annabeth there. She was quietly eating her some food that was way different than what was served at dinner. He guessed humans had more of selection of food then what merpeople had underwater.

He took a seat across from Annabeth. She took no notice whatsoever that he was there, she was glued to a pile of papers. Percy almost gasped but since he had no voice it didn't really matter if he did or not. The pile of papers was crinkled and fragile like the books Percy seen worn from being in the water. He remembered Annabeth held some papers when she was sinking into the water. Were those the papers she was holding when he saved her?

"Oh," Annabeth took note Percy was there "Sorry, I was reading some stuff about the structures of Egypt and how they built the pyramids, interesting stuff."

Percy nodded as if he knew what she was talking about and pointed to the papers she was reading from. He picked one up as if examining its condition, hopefully she got the message. Percy wanted to know was she holding these papers while she was drowning.

"Well… uh…" Annabeth gulped "A few days ago I was on a ship but there was a fire because Leo had the bright idea to hold a match to the wood to its resistance to it. The whole ship caught on fire and when we were evacuating, I was reading at the time. When I got on the lifeboat a huge wave came and the impact whisked one of my pages away so I went out to grab it and noticed there was no boat under my feet. I was drowning… and um… this is going to sound really crazy…"

Percy shrugged, he knew the rest of the story, he was there.

"This man saved me… When I woke up he was uh… singing to me…" Annabeth paused to try to hum what Percy did, failing miserably in the process. "At first when I found you I thought you were him… but you can't talk at all so…"

Percy couldn't help but admit that Circe was right. She was dreadfully right that Annabeth would know exactly who he is if he had his voice. Percy regretted even singing to Annabeth. Why did he sing to her anyway? He hated singing. Scuttles wanted him to, that's why. No, Percy could have refused but he didn't, deep down he wanted to. Singing was a sign of weakness though, something a warrior should never do but he did it. He showed weakness for Annabeth but why?

"It's silly, isn't it?" Annabeth sighed "Leo thinks I imagined him because I drank too much salt water, and everyone thinks so too. How did I get back to shore so safely though? It doesn't make sense if someone didn't rescue me because I was sure I was drowning."

Percy shrugged again. Annabeth wasn't stupid. She knew better than to believe what other people told her but she did well believe her mother's lies about myths and legends being untrue. Annabeth trusted her mother to tell the truth but she must be in doubt, she witnessed Percy saving her who is supposed to be a legend.

"I don't know…" Annabeth pushed the papers she was reading aside "Anyways I got a whole list of names right here so let's go through them." She picked up another pile of papers and began.

"Rick?" Annabeth asked a hundred names later.

Percy shook his head.

"Well, this is hopeless…" Annabeth sighed. "Why do you get some breakfast while I try to minimize the names?"

Percy grabbed some strange looking food and put it on his plate. The dining hall was still empty with only a few servants scurrying everywhere. Where was everybody? Did they already eat breakfast? Percy had no idea.

"Okay, let's try this." Annabeth said hopeful "I'm going to run through the whole alphabet and once I say the letter your name starts with, you nod, got it?"

Percy put a thumbs-up.

Annabeth laughed "Okay here we go…" she started running through all the letters. Percy noticed he understood all of them but apparently he spoke a different language underwater than in the human world. Maybe it was because his mother was human or something.

"N?"

Percy shook his head.

"O?"

Once again, he shook his head.

"P?"

He nodded.

"Yes!" Annabeth yelled like it was a huge victory. "Okay, let's run through the names starting with P then."

Percy was hopeful. At least they could use his name now, instead of using _you _or _guy. _

"Okay, Seaweed Brain, is your name Paul?"

Percy shook his head, that name was way too boring.

"Patrick? You look like a Patrick."

Percy shook his head.

Annabeth went through the whole list of names staring with P but none of them was Percy or Perseus. Annabeth crumbled up her list in frustration and threw it away on the floor.

"I worked all night on that list… I was sure I didn't leave a name out…" Annabeth rubbed her temples.

Percy didn't know how to respond. He wasn't good at body language, and it wasn't like he could act his name out. He grabbed his tiny metal trident and started picking up food with it like he saw the humans did last night during dinner.

"Oh, what's wrong Annabeth?" a servant stopped to see what was wrong. Percy stopped eating his food to look up, it was his _mother._

"Sally…" Annabeth said her name so casually as if they known each other for years "I can't figure his name out. Okay, it starts with a P but that's all the clues I got."

Sally stared at Percy, her eyes saying more than her mouth could not. She knew Percy was her son. Percy shared a sympathetic smile with his mother and she returned it but Annabeth would not be aware of the silent conversation going on.

"Percy?" her mouth uttered. She said his name with such love as if they known each other for years like Annabeth did.

Percy nodded.

Annabeth was oblivious to what went on with Percy and his mother which surprised Percy. Annabeth's power of deduction was keen but apparently she could not pick up the secret relationship between Percy and the servant, Sally. Luckily Annabeth did not pick up on it though because his mother would be in danger if she did and told Athena about it.

_"Percy?" _Sally asked again but no sound came from her mouth. _"How are you here?" _her mouth formed the silent sentence.

Percy could not answer, this wasn't the proper place or time but this was the whole reason why he came here. He could care less about the conch, he was to make amends with his mother, the one he thought was dead for so long.

"Huh, never would've guessed your name was Percy." Annabeth said, interrupting the silent reunion between family members. "It's so unusual."

"Usually Percy can be short for something." Sally said, standing still and staring at Percy. There was tears forming in her eyes but she was smiling.

Annabeth shrugged "Another day. I congratulate you, Sally, for getting his name so quickly, you always have a way with people."

_"How could I forget the name of my own son?" _Sally's lips said with no sound.

"Well, _Percy,_" Annabeth rose from her chair "My father wants to see your sword abilities since you carry around that fancy sword all the time with you." She grabbed Percy and they left Sally in the dining room all alone, sobbing with joy.

* * *

"Okay, Percy, I won't go easy on you." Jason Grace, the knight, said. Percy was in a dirt courtyard with a bunch of training dummies made from straw circling them. He could see Leo and Annabeth sitting on a stone bench watching them with the old King coughing next to them. Jason Grace, the one who was facing him in the courtyard, was an experienced knight according to Annabeth. He led an army against Sparta and won which apparently was a huge victory.

"If you loss this sword I made for you _again,_ Jason, you're so making your own!" Leo shouted.

Jason rolled his blue eyes "I know, Leo!"

Percy drew Riptide; the sword glowed brightly against the rays of the sun. They both wore sparring armor which wasn't as heavy as the armor he had to wear when fighting the sharks in the Pacific but it was itchy and the gleam of metal burned directly into Percy's eyes even with his helmet on. Jason seemed like he did this every day, he was used to fighting like this.

Why did Percy have to spar with Jason anyway? Right, he had to show off his sword skills. A dark thought crossed his mind, he was gaining their trust by doing this and they won't expect him to steal the conch. Percy really had no intention like this but by gaining their trust someone in the castle might lead him to the conch.

"Impressive sword, never seen one like it," Jason said in awe.

Percy would rather stall with a compliment fight with Jason so he didn't have to fight him but at the moment, Percy was tongue tied.

"Begin!" the old King wheezed.

Percy and Jason circled each other, waiting for the other one to make the first move. Percy tested how good he was with footwork because he never fought with legs before. If this battle was underwater and Percy had his tail back, Jason would already be knocked out but this wasn't on his turf. The human world had different rules altogether.

Jason finally made the first move. He slashed at Percy with his gold sword.

Percy dodged the attack easily and found it was his turn now. He sliced at Jason's chest.

Jason blocked with his sword and sidestepped to get out of Percy's sword range.

This went on for quite a while. Percy slashed. Jason dodged. Jason sliced. Percy blocked. It went in an endless circle because Percy was adapting to his legs. He didn't have the speed he had in the water which reduced his advantage greatly but he still could wield a sword, he had the same hands he always did.

"This is so _boring!" _Leo groaned.

Annabeth agreed, she was reading, she lost interest.

The old man was starting to doze off.

"Guess this fight's going nowhere." Jason grunted.

Percy disagreed. His feet were more stable now. He adjusted to them while fighting Jason. Percy did want to beat Jason, not because he was self-centered though. It was because Annabeth lost total interest altogether and Percy wanted to prove her wrong. He wanted to prove to her he was interesting.

Percy slashed at Jason once again and he blocked with his gold sword. Instead of repeating the same cycle, Percy pressed Riptide hard against Jason's sword, making sparks fly. Percy was face to face with Jason now. He saw his stormy blue eyes, chiseled blond hair and the little scar on his upper lip. Jason wasn't as scary as other enemies Percy fought.

The struggle between the two swordsmen roused the three observers to attention. Percy finally let go and since Jason was putting all his body power to conquer, he almost fell face first onto the dirt. Percy wasn't going to let himself win that easily though. He grabbed Jason by the neck of his armor put him hard against the ground and gently put Riptide to his back. He wasn't going to kill Jason.

"You two were equally matched." The old man said. "That does deserve some merit though because Jason is the best soldier in Athens."

Percy helped Jason up. They both were drizzled with sweat. Percy noticed something. It was something no one else noticed but him. It was only for him. Annabeth barely raised her head from the book she was reading but she was staring directly at Percy, a smile consumed her face. It wasn't like other smiles. Percy never saw a smile like it. It wasn't a smile out of kindness, or joy it was smile out of something more than both of those emotions. Percy couldn't help but smile back, for some reason, his heart fluttered. Annabeth has defeated him.

_End of Day Two_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_True and Unwanted Feelings_

Nightmares. Percy had one last night, and the problem is it was about the conch. He dreamt he was in a dark room, and he couldn't see a thing, not even his fingers. He was silent, no one could help him. A girl's voice was calling out his name but it wasn't Annabeth's. It was Rachel's with Circe laughing evilly while she screamed Percy's name. Percy tried running towards her but then he fell in the darkness to an even darker abyss. Something was glowing in front of him, it was something that looked like a conch but Percy was running out of air, and he was drowning. In the process, Rachel was calling for him—

Percy shot up in his bed. His breathing was rapid and he felt like he lost air for a long time. Rachel's voice ringed in his ears. It was so real but it was only a dream. Percy quickly got on his clothes, unable to stand another minute in his room when the nightmare consumed him. He needed to find the conch but where? The longer he stalls, the longer Rachel will be stuck in Circe's cave.

"You look like you've seen a ghost…" Annabeth commented to him when they were in the dirt courtyard after breakfast which Percy skipped.

"Ghosts? Cool. I should get out my net." Leo awed "Where did you see them?"

Percy managed a strained smile but was quickly reminded how joyful and sinister Circe sounded in his dream with Rachel, not good.

"You look sick." Annabeth said, totally ignoring Leo.

Percy shook his head, he wasn't sick. It was that stupid dream. Thanks to that, he was dreadfully reminded why he's here and he's not here to make friends. Percy couldn't afford having any relationship with them whatsoever or the pain of stabbing them in the back would be too great.

"Percy doesn't need to be babied, Annabeth." Jason said. He probably sensed that what Percy was suffering from, he needed to do it by himself. Jason and him connected a little bit when they were fighting, it happens.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth ignored Jason too.

Percy really did not want to be rude to Annabeth. He did admit to himself he was defeated to her after all. Defeat… what was that about anyway? Percy knew. Annabeth won something from him, something that was exchanged silently. He didn't know if Annabeth knew though, if she knew about his defeat.

"Thanks for visiting." Jason smiled "Leo and I need to visit the servant's hall for breakfast now."

Leo started to protest "But we ate—"

Jason forcibly grasped Leo's arm and he was dragged off to the castle with Jason. Percy was left alone with Annabeth. Ugh, life hated him or something. Annabeth looked beautiful today with her droopy golden curls perfectly pulled back in a clip with a brilliant blue dress, he loved the color blue. He couldn't enjoy her beauty though, she was a human and he was a merman, the two don't mix. Also, he is going to stab her in the back by stealing the conch from her mother that should be in his father's hands. Life is complicated.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth pressed him again.

Percy shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. He could feel the cool sea air streaming through the air. It was such a familiar smell. They were overlooking the sea but many feet up. The castle was built on a mountain and the sea faded from Percy's grasp even more when he climbed the stairs of the castle.

"Percy…" Annabeth croaked.

He pointed to his brain. He didn't know how to express nightmares to Annabeth with no words.

"Headache?"

Percy shook his head. He closed his eyes and pointed to his brain, maybe that would be clearer.

"Um… nightmares?" Annabeth took a wild guess. "They are scary, but they aren't real."

Percy would've laughed very rudely at that statement if he had a voice. Nightmares weren't unusual to him, and they were always real. Nightmares and dreams told him things he wouldn't be able to know by being himself. Sometimes they whispered stuff to him. His father told him long ago that dreams helped a king rule his kingdom and having foreshadowing dreams was a good sign that one day he would rule.

"Well, what do you want to do today? I guess I can show you the village since my father is too sick today to watch you fight." Annabeth had a distant look when mentioning her father was sick today.

Percy decided not to press her. For one thing, he didn't know how to without a voice. He followed Annabeth down some stone stairs outside leading to a wooden stable. With every step Percy took, the sea air tugged on his stomach, he wanted to retreat back into the waters. He didn't belong here in the human world no matter what Annabeth did. He knew he needed to go back into the sea. The vast ocean was calling to him.

* * *

Annabeth hooked up the carriage to the horses. Percy was reminded of Blackjack, his hippocampus. These horses looked just like hippocampi like Grover said. He waited patiently for Annabeth on a comfortable cushioned seat.

_Prince Perseus! Yeah, that's him! _A voice said. Percy looked up to see the horses were gawking at him. How could he understand horses? These beasts were from the human world, they didn't belong to the sea. Was it because they were like hippocampi?

_It's an honor to be ridden by you. _Another horse nickered.

"Princess Annabeth," a stern voice stirred Percy from the horses. Percy looked over his shoulder to see Annabeth arguing with some guard. "You are not allowed to go to the village." The guard said.

"Why not? It's just going to be in the village, I'll have plenty of protection—"

"It's not that I'm concerned about, I have orders from Queen Athena herself saying you are not allowed to leave the boundaries of the castle today."

Annabeth groaned "I'm just going to show Percy—"

"You have your duties as a princess. I think today you are going to have a dress rehearsal with Prince Angelo for your wedding."

"That's _months_ away!" Annabeth protested.

The guard started towards the carriage "Everything needs to be perfect. As a princess, you must make peace with other nations—"

"And the best way to do that is marrying them? I think not!" Annabeth curled her fists.

The guard was in front of the carriage and stared at Percy "Leave now, peasant. Go follow the servants around or something. We cannot afford a peasant like you distracting the princess."

Percy did not want conflict. He had enough of that to last a lifetime. Percy jumped off the carriage and started unhooking the horses.

"You can't command Percy to leave me alone! He's _my_ guest!" Annabeth was really having a temper tantrum, but Percy couldn't blame her. She was marrying someone she had no love or friendliness with.

"Look, Princess Annabeth, I do not make the rules here—"

"And what gave you the right to call Percy a _peasant? _I forbid you to call him that ever again!"

The guard made his way to Annabeth "You have no authority—"

"Yes I do! I am the princess of Athens, the wisest city in all of Greece! I _am _the daughter of Queen Athena and King Fredrick Chase, who rule over this wise city! I am the member of the high council who overlook the problems of Greece—"

"You are a princess!" The guard barked "You might have ties to royalty, but you have no authority until you are Queen."

"But I will be! I will be the Queen of Athens!" Annabeth countered.

The guard nodded "I know, but you are not a queen yet. You have no power to order me around—"

"Yes I—"

Percy grasped Annabeth's shoulder. He knew being royalty was a pain, and sometimes having so much power and responsibility can be overwhelming. He had to perform perilous deeds for his father lie fighting sharks or exploring dark undersea caverns, so he can prove to be king, but no one asked him if he wanted to be king. He wanted to live a quiet life like he observed from other merpeople with his father, but he would never get that. As royalty, you get many tangible things you want, but the intangible is harder to get, you might not get it at all. Annabeth was obviously angry about her arranged marriage, but fighting a guard was not going to help her in the longshot. Percy used to resist Hudson all the time for the stupidest things, but eventually his father would get word, and the situation would turn out worse than it really was. Percy still hates Hudson though.

"Which servant should I go to?" Annabeth sighed.

"Sally, she'll get you prepped." The guard seemed satisfied and walked back to his post.

* * *

"Sally! Watch it!" Annabeth warned. Percy could hear her screams of protest through the doors to her room. Percy wasn't allowed to be with Annabeth obviously since she was getting dressed and other stuff, but it was clear Annabeth's irritable mood was back. Percy could sooth Annabeth by just laying his hand on her, but none of the servants could do that, and his poor mother was suffering in the process of prepping Annabeth.

"Forgive me Princess Annabeth, but I have to get your corset on—" Percy's mother's voice was trying to stay calm.

"You don't have to choke me in the process!" Annabeth growled.

"Tell me about this boy that saved you. Was he handsome? Where did he go?" Sally was trying desperately to calm Annabeth down, and apparently her mysterious savior seemed like the best route to go. Percy listened intently to this. He was interested to hear what Annabeth thought about him for some reason. Also, he wasn't really eavesdropping because Annabeth ordered him to wait for her, here in exactly this spot so technically it's not his fault if he hears some gossip.

"Oh, Sally… Mom says I'm crazy if I talk about it—"

"I'm not your mother." Sally reminded her. "My lips are sealed."

Annabeth sighed "I don't know why he saved me or how he was there to help me, but I'm in his debt. He seems nice though and sweet and I don't know why I know that. I guess I can read people easily, but when I opened my eyes when I was on the shore, he was next to me. He was singing a sweet song… and he had the most beautiful voice, the sea seemed to echo the sound of his voice. He was perfect, in every single way. His silky back hair, his smile… everything, but then Leo scared him away…"

"What a tragedy!" there was something in his mother's voice Percy couldn't quite explain, but he knew she knew now. "You know, men like that don't come every day, knocking on your door. I need to have a talk with Leo—"

"He didn't know though." Annabeth said, want in her voice "I could only see him, he was just an illusion made from my—"

"Nonsense! The ship you were on was pretty far off from shore, and from your story I'm guessing you were unconscious at the time, so how could you swim to shore yourself?"

"Percy was shipwrecked!" Annabeth put "He drifted to Athens's shore with no help."

Sally was silent for a long time "What did your savior sing to you?"

"Sally—"

"I'm just curious!"

Annabeth sighed "It went something like this… _What would I give, to live where you are? What would I pay to stay here besides you? What would I do to see you, smiling at me? Where would we walk, where would we run, if we could stay all day in the sun? Just you and me and I could be, part of your world—_"

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard! But really, Annabeth, you must sing it instead of saying it, it's not fair to your guardian angel—" Percy's mother better know the song though Annabeth was talking about, she used to sing it to Percy when he was a baby. That song is the only thing that he had to remember of his mother. Why did he sing it to Annabeth though? He guessed so that Scuttles wouldn't hurt him, but it seemed deeper than that.

"No one saved me!" Annabeth barked "I imagined it all, but why? Why would I imagine a strong man rescuing me? I hate men since I no choice in marrying a very creepy one!"

"Annabeth… you know that isn't true. You are friends with Leo and Jason, and they are both men, Leo probably more of a boy the way he acts. Also, there's Percy, if I heard the guard correctly you demanded him not to call him a peasant—"

"That has nothing to do with anything!" Annabeth yelled "I'm going to Cathie. At least she'll stop pressing me about my life!" Annabeth opened the huge doors leading to her bedroom, banging it on Percy's head in the process.

"Oh, Percy!" Annabeth squealed.

Percy been hurt in the head worse, so despite rubbing his head, he gave Annabeth a thumbs-up to say _I'm good, you hit me with a door, but I'm good. _He looked up at Annabeth to see she was not in her dress anymore, rather undergarments. Percy looked down again, it must be improper to look at a girl with only her undergarments on. His cheeks felt extremely hot.

Annabeth cursed. Instead of saying anything more in this awkward situation, she ran off down the hallway and into another room.

"Where did that girl—?" Sally poked her head outside the door and paused to see her son "Percy, I didn't know you were out here."

Percy smiled at his mother. They were alone and no one would interrupt them. Sally could finally speak freely to her son and he could hug his long lost mother without question, so that's what he did. He hugged his mother, and she smelled like freshly baked cookies.

"Percy!" Sally shrieked and released him after a very brief hug "I know you are my son but what if Athena sees us? I'm not allowed in contact with my family."

Percy wanted to say so much to her, but that was impossible.

"I'm glad to see how handsome and strong you've become though." Sally did the talking "How's Poseidon treating you? When do you think you'll become king?"

Percy shrugged and tried to express that Poseidon gave him Riptide.

"Yes, that's all he could talk about…" Sally said fondly "He said 'One day I'll give this sword to my son when he becomes of age and he'll perform great deeds with it. Riptide will be the last gift I'll give him before he becomes king.'"

Riptide was the last thing his father would give to him. When was he going to be king? This honor was too great. When he returns home, the throne will almost be in his reach, something that his father taught him was a huge honor to receive. Did he want to rule though? Did he want to lead millions of sea creatures? Did he want that huge burden?

"Percy, you shouldn't be here. How did you become human? Interaction with the human world is strictly enforced upon in Athens and in Poseidon's domain now."

Percy pointed to his throat.

"You gave up your voice to be here? Who helped you get here? Poseidon himself?"

Percy shook his head and tried to express he had no choice to be here. He tried choking himself and then pointed to his legs as if saying he a choice of dying or coming to the human world.

"I wish you had your voice… but what you're trying to tell me… I don't think you had much of a choice to be here. Did you do all this for me?"

Percy nodded. He wanted to see his mother. His mother should've raised him, but Athena yanked that away from him, but now, he's right under Athena's nose to meet his mother.

"Oh… you're so sweet… just like your father…" Sally was sniffling and on the verge of crying.

Percy grabbed his mother and put her to his chest. They stayed embraced for a long time with his mother crying with joy into his chest. Percy's shirt was getting soaked but he didn't care. This is what he wanted most of all. He wanted to be with his mother and experience just for a little bit what it's like to have a mother.

* * *

Prince Angelo was adjusting the collar of his dark suit. Annabeth was busily fixing her hair while mumbling angrily. The happy couple was in the center of the ballroom with the priest. Percy was reminded of the dining hall in his father's palace, it looked so much like it minus it not being underwater and all. Percy was next to Jason, they both were sitting on the steps leading to a balcony inside so the host or hostess could announce things. Percy was in a pleasant mood, he had a reunion with his mother and Annabeth just looked absolutely stunning in her dress. Nothing could go wrong.

"Princess Annabeth, princess of Athens, daughter of Queen Athena and King Fredrick Chase, do you take Prince Nico di Angelo to be your awfully wedded husband?" the priest asked. The priest must have been centuries old because minus the wrinkled skin, he had an annoying hearing problem and shook viscously.

Annabeth mumbled something that was probably not an _I do. _

"Great," the priest mused "Prince Nico di Angelo, prince of the Underworld, son of King Hades, do you take Princess Annabeth to be your awfully wedded wife?"

Nico barely even said something. It came out like a squeak.

"Fantastic!" the priest smiled "I now—"

"Wait! Wait!" Queen Athena interrupted. "That bouquet of flowers went lopsided during the ceremony!"

Servants rushed towards the flowers she was pointing to.

Annabeth groaned "Why are we doing this, _Mom? _The wedding isn't until—"

"It's in one week, Annabeth!" Athena snapped "I want everything to be perfect. You two better have more convincing smiles than that during the actual ceremony or—"

"It's in one week?" Annabeth squeaked.

_End of Day Three_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_So Close and Yet, So Far Away_

Annabeth was sent to bed wailing and screaming like a baby yesterday. Percy could not get over the date. The date of the wedding seemed too coincidental. It would be a few days after Percy returned home, his home under the sea, once he retrieved the conch for Circe. Maybe if the conch did get stolen by him it could cause Athena to postpone the wedding. Annabeth seemed very dismal at breakfast today. She found no interest in Leo's crazy jokes or her father's conversation about the history of Athens.

"Annabeth, I know your feelings…" the old man coughed weakly.

"Then why not call the wedding off? I don't love him, Dad. Heck, I don't even like Nico. He's a creepy son of a—"

"Whoa, chill off, Annabeth." Leo put up calming hands "On the bright side, we have a ball coming up."

Percy raised his eyebrow.

"It's tradition to have a ball for the whole kingdom before the prince or princess gets married. We usually do them one week ahead of time." Jason explained.

Leo laughed "Just think about it Percy, dancing, music, a bunch of hot girls—"

Annabeth threw her glass at him "That's enough."

"Annabeth!" the old king barked "You could've hurt him!"

"No, no, don't worry about the unimportant blacksmith. I usually get glass chucked at me and my shirt soaked with water by a jealous—"

"I said shut up!" Annabeth growled.

The old king hastily stood up "Annabeth, go to your room! You cannot control your anger, and until you learn, you'll stay in there." Annabeth stood up and walked herself out of the dining hall. Percy wanted to run to her and tell her it'll be all right, but will it?

* * *

Percy was forced to watch Jason and Leo at work. Both of them were very hard workers. Jason was a natural born leader and easily commanded all the guards on their duties. Once Leo got down to making something, there was no stopping him. Percy felt useless. He was just a shipwrecked guy with no voice and using this castle as his free shelter. Percy decided to go looking for the conch since he had nothing better to do. The conch was the key to getting him to where he belonged.

Percy strolled down the hallways of the castle, looking into every room he could open. The conch looked like a conch so it couldn't be hard to miss but this castle seemed to run on forever. There were endless doorways and corridors to take. This wasn't his palace. He was not familiar to this territory at all. Something about the conch though, would make it easy to find in this unfamiliar place. The conch belonged to Poseidon, not Athena. The conch was supposed to be in Percy's domain and spotting an outsider should be easy enough. Percy looked harder, peaking into every room and he found himself at the end of a hallway. There was a grand entrance in front of him now. Percy pulled open the decorated wooden doors using sheer strength.

It was a library. The whole room was a huge observatory. The walls were windows, nothing else. Percy could see the vast ocean on his right and the bustling village on his left. There were bookshelves filled with books, new and old, and many of spot to recline and read them. Percy wasn't a reader, but if he was, he didn't think he would leave this place. The room showed recent activity, books were scattered everywhere and some of the chairs were worn.

_"Percy?" _A voice whispered as if in disbelief.

Percy whipped around to see a tired Annabeth in front of him. Her hair was a mess and her dress was decorated in ink stains. She wasn't prepped like Percy has seen her but she still looked beautiful, her gray eyes sparkled.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth pressed.

He couldn't be suspicious. He couldn't give away he was looking for something to steal. Percy found it a sin to lie to Annabeth though, but he done it enough already. He pretended to be shipwrecked, he pretended to know a lot about the human world like he's been here all his life, and he pretended to be a worthless peasant.

"Were you looking for me?" Annabeth blinked innocently.

Percy nodded and regretted it the moment he did. He lied to her again. He wanted to steal from her mother to return to somewhere he actually belonged in. Surely Annabeth would understand if he explained his situation to her. What if she hated him for that though? He didn't want Annabeth to hate him, but he would have to do something that would be treasonous to her eventually, and that was stealing from Queen Athena. It wasn't her fault that the conch was stolen. She probably has no idea what it is.

"Got worried, huh?" Annabeth shrugged "I can always count on you to be there for me Percy."

That wounded him, he did not deserve trust. Percy was a thief.

"Well… I was reading some old legends, can hardly believe that stuff though. This book tells about a society under the sea, can you believe that?"

Percy licked his lips, he could believe in that legend, for he was part of that legend.

"It talks about people with tails instead of legs and they live in this deep abyss…" Annabeth looked withdrawn for a second. "I wish I could live there… maybe I could get away from all this wedding drama…"

It was a wild idea, but the thought of it made his face light up. What if Annabeth became a mermaid? He could show her buildings that would deeply impress her. He could show her his hiding spot and they can escape there if things got too complicated. Annabeth was not any other mermaid he has met, well, she wasn't a mermaid at all, but she was impressive. She could produce interesting conversations, she could think for herself and she was another princess. Don't princes and princesses marry to bring peace to two foreign lands? Athens and the sea do not get along and a marriage could bring peace. Wait, why would he want to marry Annabeth? He knew nothing about Annabeth really.

Annabeth laughed "What is it, Seaweed Brain? Would you like that too? Would you want to live underwater with me?"

Without a moment's thought, Percy nodded. Annabeth was suddenly closer than she was a second ago. His heart was pounding like crazy. He hoped Annabeth couldn't hear it. Percy was leaning in closer too. He's never been this close to a girl before. He could feel Annabeth's hot breath on his face and he leaned in closer. Annabeth's hand was gently on his white shirt and no doubt she felt secure, Percy's arm was nothing but muscle. He gently closed his eyes. They were so close now. He was inches from her lips. Oh, her soft lips, Percy craved them.

There was an annoying pecking sound.

"What is that?" Annabeth had on an angry scowl for the person who interrupted them. Percy felt bad for the person. It wasn't going to be pretty for them. 

Percy looked up and his face flushed.

"Prince Perseus! Did I interrupt something?" A muffled voice through the window squawked.

"That stupid seagull!" Annabeth growled "That is the same seagull that Leo's been hunting down! I'll have a chat with him about getting rid of that thing!" Annabeth stormed off. Percy wanted to tell her that the seagull should not bother them, but she already disappeared in some random corridor. Percy felt teased, for Annabeth literally walked away from him when they were about to _urgh_— and it because of a certain seagull! Percy directed his fury towards that seagull, it wouldn't leave him alone. Percy saw a door leading outside, he fumed through it.

"Prince Perseus! I carry a message from Grover!" Scuttles landed on the wall of the balcony, and it took all of Percy's concentration not to knock him off. "It's about your father!"

Percy stood at attention, did something bad happen to his father?

"King Poseidon himself is sending a guardian to look after you. He's really worried about you, you see. He thought since a sea creature is too restrictive to the sea. He thought that _I_ should look after you!"

"No, he didn't!" protested a voice down below that was no doubt Grover.

Scuttles groaned "It's not me sadly. It's a tragedy that you won't have my protection. It's a person that can be in the surface world and under the sea."

Rachel, who fit those conditions was captured by Circe and waiting for Percy to rescue her. So who is it?

"There she is!" Scuttles pointed with his wing.

Percy spun on his heels.

"Hi, nice to meet you Prince Perseus." The person said coolly. "I'm one of Hecate's sorceresses, and I'll be taking the place of Rachel Dare for now. It's always an honor to meet a son of Poseidon, they are always handsome." The girl grabbed his chin playfully, stroking it. Percy was in dire shock, his heart probably stopped dead. This sorceress looked like a goddess. Her caramel hair was braided down one side. She had a timeless milky face and was dressed in a stunning flat white dress. "I know exactly what kind of deal you made with Circe. You wanted to see your mother, how sweet of you. Now, you have to get a conch and trust me, you will need a sorceress for that, love. Circe has hidden it with her own magic, but no doubt she expected Poseidon to send magical aid to help you. Now Circe has Poseidon's help in retrieving the conch, and also Hecate. She is brilliant in getting this far with her plan and we have no choice but to help her. She will probably leave everyone alone once she gets her own island so for everyone's sake, let's find that conch."

Percy nodded, that's been the plan all along.

"You've been distracted, Perseus! I know the princess of Athens in tempting, but she is no good. She'll turn out like her mother and betray you. She'll hate you once she finds your true identity, and once she figures out you lied to her. She is a human, Perseus, you are a merman, and this equation will not end nicely." She pulled back her fingers that were playing with his scar above his eye "My name's Calypso, by the way."

_End of Day Four_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_Dancing_

It turns out the conch was in the library. Calypso worked some spell and the conch appeared right before them. It was on a bookshelf, somewhere that it would be noticed, but not noticeable at the same time. Calypso said the conch only appears with some kind of spell that Percy can't pronounce. Calypso liked to be really close to Percy though, and it's not like he didn't enjoy having a goddess looking girl invading his personal space, it was just was chaotic for him. One minute, Calypso complimenting on his looks and stroking his chin, saying he should grow a beard like his father has and the next minute, Annabeth walks in. Just imagine the girl he almost kissed that day and another girl invading his personal space way too often. Percy thought Annabeth would pounce Calypso, but she didn't. She just grabbed Calypso by the neck, a little too harshly, and demanded to know how she got in here. Calypso was a little too dramatic in saying she's Percy's lover and how she scaled the castle to get him. Percy wished she said sister instead of lover in the cover story, but it was too late. At breakfast, she was questioned some more:

"So you are Percy's lover?" Leo said in disbelief "And you just wanted to see him again, so you couldn't tell a guard like a normal person would do and wait for the guard to get Percy, you climbed the tower to see him? Am I getting this right?"

Calypso sniffed with a tissue she got from Athena "Oh, yes… its true! You see, I was worried for my Percy-kins, he's the best sailor, but there have been so many storms lately. My fears were answered when I got news he was missing! And now, he can't talk at all, oh, they say you witness something terrible to have your voice lost!" She gripped Percy's arm and sobbed into it. Percy had to admit, she was a good actor.

"If he was missing than how did you get word he was missing?" Annabeth growled, crossing her arms.

"He doesn't show up, duh." Leo remarked.

Calypso nodded "I'm so glad you guys found him. I don't even want to think if he was stranded on a deserted island, I might have never seen him again!"

"Why didn't you mention her before, Percy?" Annabeth glared. Percy really wanted to sink down in his seat and bury himself alive.

"Annabeth, he doesn't have a voice." Jason stood up for Percy "There's only so much you can explain without a voice—" Annabeth shot him a scowl, and Jason shut up.

"Yes, our love story is complicated." Calypso agreed. Percy nodded with her even though they never met each other before yesterday. "Ah, yes. When we were children, we used to play together, but as we got older, Percy had to leave his family for years to make a lot of gold as a fisherman. Oh, the perilous adventure, fighting bloodthirsty sea creatures and looting privateers. When he returned home, he was a changed man, the man I fell head over heels over. My parent betrothed me to him, and we were planning to have our wedding when he returned, but he did not."

Annabeth mumbled something under her breath.

"That is truly tragic." Leo said "I guess you'll be taking Percy to wherever you guys came from."

Calypso shot up "Oh no! I heard there was a ball tonight! I can never miss a ball! I love them so! Please, can you allow Percy and me just one more day? Maybe we actually need two days to stay here though, because we need to find a ship to take us back home." Percy was allowed seven days to stay in the human world though. He's one day short.

"You only need one day to get the conch." Calypso whispered to him "When everyone's distracted." Percy was starting to see the witch's plan. During the ball he can steal the conch, but the question is what will he do with it once he gets it?

Annabeth sighed "Sure, you are allowed to stay for the ball."

* * *

The rest of the day, Percy spent dancing. Sure, he knows what dancing is, but he's never done it with two feet before. His mother knew this probably too well so they were in the ballroom dancing together. It was a nice mother and son moment. The servants bustled around, setting up tables, streamers, flowers and numerous decorations. No one stopped his mother from teaching Percy how to dance.

"Percy, that's my foot." His mother giggled.

Percy gasped silently and removed his foot from hers.

"Okay, as the man, you must lead the girl. So Percy, you must direct my feet where to go. No, not that way! You must glide, does that make sense?"

Percy shook his head. His feet were not meant for dancing apparently.

"Percy, this is not hard. All the songs that will be played at the ball will be slow and graceful, so you'll have plenty of time to make sure you know where you're going properly. Percy, my foot! Seriously, you must get this from your father's side!"

Percy wanted her to explain more on how his father and Sally met. He was curious. What was life like before merpeople and humans weren't restricted from seeing each other? Was life better in any way?

"You know…" his mother whispered so no one else would hear them "I don't think that Calypso girl is really your lover."

Percy shook his head.

"Thought so, why is she here then? Do you know her?"

He really couldn't answer that. Percy pointed to Calypso who was on the inside balcony with Leo, getting a tour of the castle, so as if he was saying _ask her._

"I will question Calypso later. Does your father know about her?"

Percy nodded.

"Well, that makes things even better." Sally mused "She can play your voice in explaining on exactly in the world you got here. I'm glad she's not your lover too, or I think Annabeth might rip her head off."

Why would Annabeth do that?

"Percy, she could not stop talking about how much she hates Calypso to me this morning. The second she saw Calypso's finger stroking your face, Annabeth signed Calypso's death note. You might want to explain in some way you don't love Calypso for Calypso's sake so Annabeth doesn't murder her." Sally laughed "Ah, this reminds me when I saw a bunch of mermaids around Poseidon one time."

Percy started to get the hang of dancing. He wasn't perfect at it, and according to his mother, he'll never be, but he was ready for the ball. Even though he'll probably not even be at it at all, he had some quality time with his mother. Apparently, he needs to make amends with Annabeth, but Annabeth was nowhere to be found, she was probably getting ready for tonight's ball, for it were only a few hours away. Percy wanted to try and tell her about Calypso before the ball happens because once he gets the conch, he'll probably turn back to a merman. Percy wanted to return to the sea so bad. His father was probably very worried, but some of him wanted to stay here. He wanted to stay here in this castle and be with his new friends.

"Percy!" a voice said behind him.

Percy whipped his head around to see a servant.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" Cathie yelled "Do you know what time it is? I'll never get you ready enough for the ball! Ugh, come with me!" Cathie forcibly grabbed Percy's wrist and dragged him to a bathroom. Again, he had to get cleaned up.

* * *

"He's looks so handsome!" a servant squealed, adjusting Percy's hair with her spit.

"Annabeth will defiantly be impressed." Another servant was fixing his jacket.

Cathie hushed them "What are you two talking about? Annabeth is getting married to Prince Angelo and Percy is engaged to Calypso."

"Oh, Cathie! Do you not see the star-crossed lovers?"

"Leave!" Cathie commanded both of the servants. "And you, get out there, or you'll be late!" she pushed Percy out the door.

Percy was pushed out in the blank hallway, feeling violated and prepped way too much. He adjusted his suit that was choking him and walked to the ballroom. Hopefully he'll find Calypso so they both can head to the library while everyone is dancing and distracted. Percy entered the ballroom through some small doors that were probably meant for the servants. He saw strangers gathered onto the huge mosaic floor, talking and laughing. Annabeth was nowhere to be found.

"Percy!" Calypso shrieked and ran to him. She was wearing a Greek styled pink dress with her hair curly and wild. "Did the servants clean you up? They didn't for me, but it's not like I need any help. All I have to do is snap my finger and _BAM!_ New dress!"

Percy smiled a bit, and pointed upstairs where the conch is.

"I know, I know." Calypso said as if he was insulting her "I haven't had a chance to explain everything to your mother though, we need to be completely alone to do that. Anyways, I'll tell you when we should go. We have to look like we're not suspicious right now."

"What's up, you lovebirds?" Leo came over and put his arm around both of them "I don't know who was the idiot to invite an insane blacksmith here, but I'm having a great time!"

"This is your home, Leo. They had no choice in inviting you." Calypso stated.

Leo rolled his eyes "What happened to the ol' hopeless lover from this morning?"

"Since Percy's here by my side, I'm fine. He has great ways of soothing people—"

"Okay!" Leo took his arms off of them "Can I steal Percy? Do I have permission to do that oh so great stalker of her future husband?"

Calypso crossed her arms "You shall, insane blacksmith of Athens."

Leo dragged Percy by the collar away from Calypso "Seriously dude, you have a little overly attached leech on your leg now. I don't know why you would want to marry her."

Percy shrugged.

"Ha! You don't know either." Leo laughed. They were in a corner of the ballroom where the guards were standing. Percy could see Jason standing at full attention in uniform. It was different than his usual banged up training armor or simple clothes. "Hey, Jason!" Leo waved to his friend. Jason didn't respond with a wave, he smiled briefly at them, and returned back to his gaze on the crowd, looking for any suspicious activity.

"Too serious to leave his post…" Leo grumbled. "Well, Percy, I like you to meet some of my friends." He dragged Percy to another end of the ballroom. Percy felt like a doll he used to steal from little mermaids when he was little, always being pushed to one place to another, that was hard on the doll.

"Percy, this is Hazel and Frank! P.S. they're a couple. Frank, Hazel, this is Percy." Leo introduced him to two people. The girl, Hazel, had chocolaty skin, wild brown hair and had on a big ruffled golden dress. Frank was much taller than Hazel, and looked like he was one of the guards, but his gentle expression showed otherwise. Frank had his arm around Hazel as he shook Percy's hand.

"I hope Leo doesn't cause you any trouble." Hazel giggled.

Percy shook his head.

"Percy's mute, so don't expect much coming out of his mouth." Leo explained. Percy nudged him hard with his elbow into his gut.

Frank laughed "So you were shipwrecked?"

He nodded.

"Terrible," Hazel gasped "Are you alright?"

"Besides his voice and his parasite of a fiancé, he's fine."

Percy glared at Leo. He was perfectly fine without Leo as a translator.

"I'm sorry for Leo," Hazel said "He's always like that, but anyways since we know about you it wouldn't be fair if we didn't share something about us. We're here because my brother is Prince Nico di Angelo."

Percy didn't see Nico really at all, but if they were sibling then they must be complete opposites. Nico is dark and dreary. Hazel is happy and giggly. How could they be related? They don't look anything alike. Well, Triton does have green skin, and Percy has pale skin so siblings could look very different.

"Wow, you look like Jason when we told him." Frank laughed. "Jason is terrified of Prince Angelo."

Percy didn't think that was a secret that should be announced so loudly, for Jason's sake.

"He's really nice when you get to know him." Hazel said.

"But he's really creepy when you don't know him." Leo mentioned.

Frank shrugged "Yeah, Prince Angelo—"

"CIZITENS OF ATHENS!" A person shouted from the balcony of the ballroom. All the talking died down and everyone started to look up. It was King Fredrick who yelled that over the ballroom and his coughing fit afterwards was drowned out by the sound of trumpets. Next to the hunched over sickly king was Queen Athena, standing tall and proud in a complicated dress laced with gold and silver.

"We are here today to celebrate my daughter's last week before she will be married to Prince Angelo of the Underworld, so we may have peace between the two lands. Let us welcome my daughter!" Athena waved her hand over to her left to where there was a corridor blocked by curtains. "And my future son-in-law, Prince Nico di Angelo!" she waved her hand to the right where another corridor blocked by red velvety curtains was at. The curtains rose at the same time, and Percy almost collapsed. Annabeth was wearing the most beautiful dress that outshined her mother's. Annabeth wore a red silky dress that ruffled at the end. The whole dress was so simple but it drew attention to her beauty. She descended down the stairs with her long dress trailing behind her and her curly locks bouncing along the way. Prince Angelo ruined the picture. His dark suit and depressed scowl affected Annabeth's image as he escorted Annabeth down the stairs.

They both walked to the center of the ballroom floor. An orchestra started playing, but it wasn't like the usual instruments used underwater. They produced way different sounds than Percy was used to. Music underwater was livelier, and this music just put him to sleep. Annabeth and Nico started to dance as well as many others. Percy noticed that he and Leo were the only ones not dancing. In no way, Percy was going to dance with Leo. He paid attention to Annabeth instead, who was putting on a fake smile. Percy has seen her smile too much not to know when she was faking and when she was full of joy. Annabeth was defiantly not having a good time dancing with Nico. Calypso was nowhere to be seen, so Percy had to stand there awkwardly with Leo through minutes that seemed like hours.

The music stopped to get some new music to play since the song has ended. Annabeth was allowed to separate from Nico but she seemed to have the same expression as the prince when they departed. Percy's feet moved on their own which was a shocker because he wasn't as good on his feet in the first place. He was walking towards Annabeth who took a rest at a corner of the room where no one was at. He remembered what he would do when he was meeting a mermaid at his banquet not so long ago, so Percy did exactly that:

Annabeth looked up at him, surprised he came over here.

Percy bowed to Annabeth (a little too prince-like) and put out his hand.

The princess knew the noble talk too well. She took his hand, her nails were polished a vivid red. Percy put Annabeth's hand to his lips and kissed it. Well, it wasn't as close of a kiss he almost gave Annabeth yesterday, but he was pleased when he did kissed her hand. It was smooth and milky. Annabeth froze when his lips made silent contact with her hand like she didn't expect it at all. Percy raised his head and waved his hand to offer her a dance.

"I would love to." Annabeth's voice was squeaking.

Percy smiled at the princess. Why didn't he think of this before? Why didn't his mother tell him to just offer Annabeth a dance? This was so perfect. He had his father to thank for this perfect moment. All the awkward talks with King Poseidon and countless hours practicing etiquettes with Hudson paid off on this night. Percy felt overjoyed and somewhat gitty, for the first time in his life. The conch didn't matter anymore, it was this moment that will make his journey to the human world unforgettable.

He ushered Annabeth to the ballroom floor. He put a hand on her waist and she guided where her hands should go. The music was playing. Percy started leading Annabeth all over the floor, praying for his life that he would not step on her foot. Annabeth was absolutely beautiful, her rosy lips produced a real smile and her gray eyes reflected the brightness of the ballroom. Nothing but her mattered to him, he craved that kiss that he was going to get yesterday, but this wasn't the time nor place. He remembered Calypso's words accusing Annabeth to be no good, and he disagreed completely. He lost to Annabeth a long time ago and this dance made him be reminded of that. He was more than happy to be defeated by her though. It was forbidden though, but he knew that well enough. He did not care anymore.

For he, Prince Perseus Jackson, son of King Poseidon, fell in love with the Princess of Athens.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_The Conch Thief_

Percy wanted to dance with Annabeth forever, even after the song ended. Annabeth had more control with handling the situation more than Percy though. Her hands left his hand and shoulder slowly as if they didn't want to but eventually they left him completely. Percy felt the warmness he felt a second ago drain from him. He couldn't meet Annabeth's eyes after that but he only bowed again a retreated from the center of the floor. He noticed that many other men were lining up to dance with Annabeth and it took all his concentration not to strangle all of them. Annabeth was pulled into one man's arms after another dancing with each of them, it frustrated Percy.

"Jealous?" Calypso crept up to him.

Percy nodded, this must be the anger he felt for each man that touched Annabeth.

"Well, sadly we have to leave, Prince Perseus. I would love to torment Leo a little more but this is are only chance." She put her arm through his and dragged him through the servant entrance which he came from because the main one was blocked by guards. Calypso seemed to know the castle better than Percy did even though she's only been here for one day.

"We must run. We really do not want to be caught outside the ball." Calypso scooped up her dress and started running, Percy noticed she had on no shoes. Percy jogged after her and they both ran straight to the library where the conch was. For every step, Percy wanted to take back. He was leaving something where he didn't have to worry about his princely duties. He could live a life carefree with Annabeth just dancing forever. He made so many new friends too. If Jason knew he was stealing something from the grounds he protected, their friendship would be broken. If Annabeth knew… Percy didn't even want to think of such dark thoughts.

"We're here." Calypso notified him.

Percy looked at the huge doors leading to the library. They were heavy wooden doors craved with an imprint of the sea. That was what Percy was going to tonight. Under the sea, that's where he belonged. He needed to rescue Rachel from Circe and make sure Circe never bothers him again. He wanted to see his father again too, he must be worried. Percy felt this feeling once before in the Pacific when battling sharks. He wanted to go home then too. He was homesick. Percy opened the doors which were pretty heavy to get rid of the image of the sea. It gave him an upset feeling in his stomach that he couldn't bear right now.

"There it is." Calypso ran into the library with Percy tailing her. Percy closed the doors just in case anybody passed by.

Calypso was looking at a pinkish seashell that was curved. It could make sound and like his father's trident, it glowed with power. Percy could hear the ocean waves when he walked up to it. It was on the highest shelf which neither Percy nor Calypso could reach. Calypso said something that Percy was sure was an insult but the conch started to float down into Percy's hands.

"It recognizes you as the rightful owner." Calypso said simply.

Percy examined the powerful object in his hands. Was it really this easy? He doubted it. He knew too well that things were never going to be easy for him. He tried moving the conch more but it wouldn't budge. Percy released his grip on the conch and it was floating in the air. He was blasted by a weak wind by it, weather that was yearning for something. The conch wanted to be free from its prison.

"A security measure," Calypso rolled her eyes. "This will only take a second." She raised her arms and began chanting a spell. Blue light came from nowhere and hit the conch with tremendous force. Percy shielded his eyes for many books crashed around from the impact.

"Or not…" Calypso ran her fingers through her hair and gave out an aggravated sigh. The conch was still floating in midair, not harmed at all. Percy's sword twitched. Literally, it moved. Percy almost forgot he had his sword attached to his side. He was surprised the guards let him take a weapon to the ball but that wasn't the problem right now. Percy unsheathed his sword and felt it vibrate in his hands. Calypso was too busy murmuring to herself to notice that his sword had a mind of its own.

Percy than began to understand why Circe wanted him on this quest. He might have needed a witch's help to even see the conch but it wasn't the witch that could free the conch. This was his quest and his alone. Percy gripped his sword in both hands and it trembled slightly. Riptide belonged to a great hero that performed tremendous deeds and probably on his own. Since this hero was a legend, the sword was no ordinary weapon. Then he remembered that his sword was made Celestial Bronze, a mythical metal that could not rust in the water. He saw a circle surrounding the conch and dark spots floating about. What if the conch was trapped in magic water?

"Percy! What are you doing?" Calypso held out a hand to stop him but it was too late. Percy raised his sword and stabbed straight through the conch. Just like he thought, water exploded everywhere like a popped bubble. The whole room was soaked in murky water that trapped the conch. Percy saw the conch was in his hands now. It glowed brightly with more power than ever before.

"Well, I guess you must be smarter than me." Calypso shrugged.

"That's a first." Percy laughed.

_"Your voice…" _her eyes widened at the sound of his voice. Percy was shocked to even hear his thoughts out loud. He rubbed his throat, afraid he was going to crawl out of his mouth. "I must say, your voice is quite manly." Calypso flirted.

Percy rolled his eyes "I guess since I got Circe the conch I got my voice back. How are we going to get to her though? It's underwater and also the last time I got there was when I got knocked out and dragged there by her." He took a step with the conch in hand and suddenly, he felt like he was shrinking. Calypso stumbled forward before he fell on his face. Percy collapsed into her arms and quickly got himself together to see what in the world he tripped on. But he didn't trip on anything. He just changed back to his original form, a merman with no legs.

"OPEN UP!" someone banged on the door.

Calypso and Percy both cursed in unison. Calypso took Percy's arm, her long fingers stabbing into his now bare skin. His outfit fell off of him for he had no use for them anymore, they would just get wet. Calypso opened the doors leading to the balcony with her magic and quickly walked to it supporting Percy in the process. The knocking at the door was becoming more violent.

"Calypso, jump. I can handle myself." He told Calypso once they reached the balcony. Calypso did not argue and ran to the pillared fence and swan dived into the sea. Percy dragged himself over to the fence and pulled himself up.

The guards were opening the door by pushing it all at once. Percy quickly slid off the cool rail and dived into the sea beneath him. He was going home with conch in hand. A wind whipped his face and his life on the human world flashed before his eyes. He made so many friends and he threw it all away but he had to, he never belonged there. He stole from them and stabbed them in the back. He would never be welcomed back with open arms.

_"PERCY!" _A tremendously loud cry came from the library. It was not a man's voice from a random guard or from Jason's. It wasn't a cry out of anger or spite even. Like the conch, the voice that cried was yearning for something.

The voice belonged to Annabeth.


End file.
